Sometimes I wonder if we've gone too far with digital photography. While I love not having to worry about storing boxes of forgotten snapshots in a damp basement, I also rarely look at the tens of thousands of pictures I've snapped with various digital cameras and (especially) cell phones. If you're looking to artfully add some physicality to your snapshots, you need a digital scrapbooking app.

Not Your Grandma's Scrapbooks

Modern digital scrapbooking apps are basically lighter versions of desktop publishing applications, like Adobe InDesign. You place your photos on a WYSIWYG page and adjust size, rotation, and how the images appear in their frames. MyMemories Suite 5 gives easy access to all these tools, making laying out each page a snap.

What sets a scrapbook apart from a photobook is the level of personal embellishment. Panstoria Artisan 4 and other apps have lots of clip art, backgrounds, and other doodads to liven up every page. Many of the apps I reviewed, including Panstoria, have online shops where you can download even more art and templates.

Nearly all scrapbooking apps include photo editors of varying quality. In general, I recommend against relying on the image-editing powers of desktop publishers and instead encourage would-be scrapbookers to touch up their images in a stand-alone photo editor, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements. Serif CraftArtist 2 Professional is the notable exception to this rule, but it's also a challenging piece of software to learn.

Get Physical

In these reviews of scrapbooking software, I considered apps that had an integrated print service—that is, ones that let you order a printed scrapbook based on the digital one you designed in the software—to be superior to those without one. Unfortunately, several apps that didn't make it into this roundup, namely PhotoMix PhotoOne Print, Hallmark Scrapbook Studio Deluxe, and Scrapbook Factory Deluxe require you to find your own print service or use your home printer.

If you're not really the scrapbooking type but are interested in turning your digital photos albums into physical photo albums, Foto.com and Foto.com Editor are solid tools—and free, to boot. Foto.com Editor runs on Windows computers and comes with most of the tools I'd expect from a scrapbook maker. Foto.com is free, Web-based, and even includes collaboration tools. Both do an excellent job of keeping you informed of the size and cost of your project as you work, and they automate much of the layout process. Your book is generated in just a few seconds, and you can customize it to your heart's content.

After reviewing nearly a dozen apps, I can see the value and the fun in turning boring old digital snapshots into shareable, gift-able books. In fact, I've even used some of these services to purchase gifts for my family. If a curmudgeon like me can be convinced, surely one of these apps will meet your needs.