How is ArtsCow different from Shutterfly?

[LenaGardner]

specifically, for the cover and back. Can I still completely customize it? Where can I find the specs for it? The price is so different I'm wondering if the quality is poor? I've heard that it's still good but I'd love some reassurance. Seems like Shutterfly just may be overpriced :) though I only order free books (I buy the codes/accounts on ebay) Anyway I'm about to order some AC books and I am feeling SO lost because I've got 11 shutterfly books under my belt and now I'm kind of stuck in my ways.

[nesser1981]

For me personally, I would never switch to Artscow unless I could no longer afford shutterfly. To me the colors are off, pages are grainier and the paper is thinner. But, for anyone who has never done a shutterfly book, I think they'd be thrilled.

I think the only thing you can't do is put text on the bind, if you can, I can't figure out how. I have 14 shutterfly books and I've done 4 free artscow ones for my mom. I just used the specs at shutterfly for the covers and I didn't resize my pages at all for inside the book.

[LenaGardner]

that's so good to know! Yeah, these are all for gifts. One for a birthday present for my roomate of her dogs and two albums of the kids for my parents and IL's. I didn't know I could use the same specs as Shutterfly but that's awesome!

[OrianaVianey]

Well, I use to be a huge Shutterfly fan myself but I totally switched to ArtsCow now. The price difference is humongus, and for me as an international costumers even with a free book the shipping cost means the world to me (Shutterfly is $14.99 and Artscow is $7.99).

Yes, SF pages usually come darker that AC so a little more saturation for AC is not a bad suggestion, but for me the difference was minimum. And I'm totally bummed about the fact that you can't print books bigger than 40 pages, but I'm pretty sure they will sometime soon.

I do like the sewed pages instead of glued. The book opens flat and that helps to prevent things getting lost on the binding. I just make two identical books, one from SF and one from AC... I'll post the pictures tomorrow when I'm less sleepy.

And for the AC specs, you can download the templates here.
http://forum.artscow.com/ShowPost.aspx?ThreadId=7437

Shuterfly specs for inside pages works fine, but I suggest you to use AC ones for the covers

[Megan Turnidge]

While I wouldn't print my personal books with Artscow, they were great for gifts. My family won't notice the things that annoy me.... :) Well, I don't even like Shutterfly enough to print my own books. TOo much graininess in the photos. I just printed my first book with Viovio and LOVE it! THe best books I've had printed and their prices are amazing!! The website, however, is very annoying and I had to find a tutorial on how to make my book.... lol... but now that i know my next book will be much easier! :)

Use the templates Oriana gave you. :)

Also, I didn't have any problems, but it sounds like a few gals had issues with white edges and their CS didn't resolve it.

[OrianaVianey]

ok, here you have my books.

- Covers (Left is SF and right is AC) This is why I suggest you to use AC templates for the covers. I used the SF ones and didn't fit quite right.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/OrianaVianey/Artscow001.jpg

- Inside pages (Top is SF, bottom AC). I ran Wendizine actions through these and worked perfectly. A good thing about AC is when you are putting together a book you can see what will be printed and a darker area which is the bleed area. So if you need to adjust the page you can do it fine zooming in or out as you please

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/OrianaVianey/Artscow003.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/OrianaVianey/Artscow006.jpg

What I do notice was the saturation of the reds. SF have the red more saturated than AC

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t265/OrianaVianey/Artscow005.jpg

And as I told you before notice how less elements are loosing because of the binding in the AC books.
Plus AC usually takes a couple more days to arrive than SF.
For me the difference are minimum and the price totally worth it.

[LeeAndra]

For me, AC was definitely a subpar book compared to Shutterfly. The colors were a bit off and even using their zoom in/out feature Oriana mentioned above, I still had white edges on over half the pages in the book I made. It's not a horrible book and was fine for making a gift for my FI's brother & sister-in-law, but I wouldn't probably make many books for myself using AC.

I had 300+ photos made with them, however, and they were GREAT. Perfect color & cropping.

[lovely1m]

I got some AC prints done recently (just 4x6s) and the quality wasn't bad, but nothing compared to Shutterfly's.

[kscwgirl]

My artscow book did not turn out well.. I had white lines on the covers and on the pages, and they refused to fix it since my book was free, even though I paid $17 for shipping. They said it was my fault.