The MPIX Book
The MPIX book was delivered quickly and my first impression on opening the package was WOW!. The cover and
contents exceeded my expectations. On closer inspection, though, a few problems were visible. First problem
was the binding:
just a guess but it looks like MPIX uses the same size spine for all books of a certain size regardless of the
number of photo pages in it. So if you have a book with a smaller number of pages the spine appears to
pooch out
backwards detracting (in my opinion) from the overall appearance of the book. As of May, 2009 If you go
to the mpix website and select Products->Custom Hard Cover Books you will see a wedding album. Look
at the lower left of the album (on the spine) and you should be able to see part of the fold between the
spine and the front cover pushing up. I don't want my books to look like that. Second problem was
the color: some of the photos appeared to
have a slightly yellow cast. I have printed some of these pictures locally and the white clothing is whiter in
my local prints.
The SmileBook
It was a surprise to receive a package from Germany and find my photo book in it. A few days longer delivery time
than MPIX but still well within expectations. The book was another WOW moment. I much prefer the SmileBooks
binding over
the MPIX book. On my one sample the binding was tight and looked custom made
for the book. Looking at the pictures though I noticed that there was also a yellow cast present to the degree
that the photos were not acceptable to me. So SmileBooks is removed as a contender. Unfortunate since
I really liked their binding.
Time to Make the Real Book.
I reloaded the MPIX file and made a number of changes based on lessons I had learned from the test book. Some
of the pictures were a little dark (these I used photoshop to lighten) and some of the pictures were a little
light (again fixed in photoshop). The layout was modified and picture frame boarders added. I also added more
pictures to the book. The file was uploaded to MPIX and the book received fairly soon. I had my photo book
and was happy. This should be the end
of the story but it is not.
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