Product Reviews

For anyone who has fussed over complicated batch conversions in Photoshop or GraphicConverter, the simple promise of iPhotoBatch to convert folders of images between common formats at the touch of a button is almost enough to have you counting out the program's tiny shareware fee before you install it. iPhotoBatch offers to translate between TIFF, JPEG, PICT, PNG and BMP images, taking over a chore familiar enough to anyone who regularly has to repurpose images for different media.

Available in both Classic and Mac OS X versions, the program's sole window is a model of simplicity. First, set the source and destination folders from a pull-down menu, or open individual images from the File menu. Then press the Batch button and the program goes to work. If you're converting to JPEG, you can also set a target size and compression level.

Further options in the

These aren't the only drawbacks: iPhotoBatch is also plagued by usability problems. For example, when you close the program's window, you can't reopen it unless you quit and relaunch the program. The pop-up menus don't work consistently and the locations of the source and destination folders aren't stored between program runs.

Missing in action

Perhaps the most critical complaint about the program is that it's functionally flawed. The conversion speed is slow and iPhotoBatch routinely ignores the first image it finds in the batch source folder. The JPEG export feature is let down by an inability to preview its effect, and, while the program ostensibly supports a target size, we couldn't get it to work correctly.

This wasn't helped by the lack of useful documentation, which means getting the best out of the program is a matter of guesswork. There are no meaningful error messages either, so there's no way of telling whether a file has been successfully converted or if the error lies with a failed batch attempt.

The idea behind iPhotoBatch is excellent - if only it was half as good in practice.