Part 1 of a comparison between audio slideshows created with Soundslides, iMovie, Windows Movie Maker and Picasa. Other pages: Soundslides, iMovie & Windows Movie Maker, Picasa, the Verdict.

Audio slideshows are a great way to tell a human story online. They are also a powerful learning tool for journalists and bloggers.
For many from a print background, ‘going multimedia’ means diving headfirst into video. I prefer a step-by-step approach, focusing on audio and photography in turn, then bringing these skills together to create audio slideshows. This way, learners expand their multimedia toolkit and embed some of the most important skills needed to tackle video.
In resource-strapped newsrooms, audio slideshows can also deliver high value in a lot less time than video. The mighty Soundslides is easy to learn and remember, slideshow ‘movies’ can still be uploaded to YouTube or embedded within Flash projects, and good photography is pure gold that can be used in print and online.
So it’s no surprise that the newspaper journalists I’ve been working with in the Emirates are bursting with ideas for using Soundslides.
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