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Animoto

Ratingstars4 Rated 4 out of 5 stars by AppAppeal Editor
What can you use the application for?
Animoto allows you to mix your own music videos, using your own photos and music.
What is the history and popularity of the application?
Animoto is an American company whose aim is to allow web users to mix their own photo presentations, set to music, using professional mixing techniques. The idea is that you take your favorite photos and upload them to the website. You can easily upload an entire batch at once, and they will be automatically uploaded one by one in the background, leaving you free to attend to other matters. Once the photos have been uploaded, you can choose a preloaded music track or upload your own mp3. Animoto will analyze the beat and tempo of your music, and use this to decide when and how photo's will be changed and mixed in your slideshow video. You don't have any control over how many of your photo's will be displayed, how quickly they will be mixed and which methods will be used - this is all left up to the Animoto mixing algorithms. Once your video has been finished (this can take up to 10 minutes), you can upload it to a service such as YouTube, from where you can share it with your friends. Allow some 25 minutes for the entire process, from starting uploading to the finished product.
What are the differences to other applications?
Animoto takes the "slideshow" concept to a whole new level by allowing you to set your photos to music without the need for any expensive software. This makes sharing photos with your friends a more pleasant and interesting experience.
How does the application look and feel to use?
Animoto's website has a very modern and "urban" look and feel which is aimed at younger audiences. There is some advertising present, but it is integrated well into the site and is in no way forced upon you.
How does the registration process work?
Animoto will require you to specify your name and date of birth during the registration process. The registration process itself is very quick however, and you will be able to start mixing videos immediately.
What does it cost to use the application?
Animoto is a free, advertising-supported service.
Who would you recommend the application to?
Animoto isn't a very powerful mixing tool for creating visual presentations, and you have little control over how the finished product will appear. However, if you are looking for fun way to share photos amongst friends, then this is a truly great service.
Animoto Features
  • Set your photos to music of your choice.
  • Professional looking results.
  • Little control over mixing process.

Mobile version

Iphone_appiPhone app
Website
http://animoto.com/
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Comments
By Anonymous on 18 Feb 2009 at 18:39
ANIMOTO SUCKS ASS - ONE PROJECT FROZE AND I CAN'T EDIT ANY OTHER PROJECTS IN MY ACCOUNT AFTRER PAYING FOR PROFESSIONAL ACCESS ANIMOTO SUCKS ASS! since you fail to reply to my repeated emails: I was working on a single project that hung during rendering. totally unrelated projects had previously been created, so i went to edit one or ANY OF THEM - and am always brought back to the failed project. I have deleted the failed projects from my account, and am still brough to edit that project when I click editing remix. Your careless reply was to just create another project from scratch, which doesn't help at all because I can't even find out where I set the music to begin. I PAID YOU IN FULL UP FRONT FOR PROFESSIONAL LEVEL ACCESS. QUIT BLOCKING EVERY PROJECT IN MY ACCOUNT BECAUSE ONE FAILS ON YOUR END AND YOU DON'T CARE ENOUGH TO FIX IT EVEN THOUGH IT'S BEEN 4 DAYS THAT I HAVE BEEN REQUESTING SUPPORT! IF YOU WON'T FIX IT, GIVE ME ANOTHER ACCOUNT SO I CAN CREATE THEM FROM SCRATCH ALL OVER AGAIN AND GET THESE CLIENT PROJECTS FINISHED!!!!
By Anonymous on 27 May 2009 at 13:31
I've been using Animoto for almost three months now. I purchased a pro level account. I'm a wedding photographer and have found that the Animoto slideshows are dreadfully small. My clients have loved the look of the slideshows but many have commented on how small they are. I'm aware that there is a way to export the slideshow to Youtube at a larger size but that is just so annoying. Why not just make the shows larger by default. As a photographer I want my images to be seen at a proper size; with Animoto the images are just too small to be appreciated. I won't be renewing my membership.
By Anonymous on 12 Oct 2009 at 23:55
Run away from Animoto.com They bait you with the nice looking videos they use as examples, but when you try to make your own, they are very small and the quality is well below even the Youtube standard. Other problems: Site is SLOW SLOW SLOW. Clearly they have bandwidth issues! There is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE! Nothing, no phone number. Just a contact form that goes unanswered. Don't pay for the HD upgrade thinking you can get it. It's just not there. Again, NO customer service option!.......Great idea, very poor implementation.......
By Anonymous on 10 Mar 2010 at 21:08
Animoto is LAME, LAME, LAME!!!! Customer service is non existant, their links to upload are dead most of the time and rendering is slowwww....... Gotta run. I'm going software shopping, and then I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon blog flogging them! I've had enough. They will never get another penny from me.
By Lisa Stonecipher on 10 Mar 2010 at 21:25
Do you have any rating lower than a single star? These money grubbing, jackasses don't even deserve that much! Grrrr..don't get me started again. My first flame is right above this one.
By Richard Norfolk (UK) on 18 Aug 2010 at 18:30
I posed a question to Animoto asking them to justify why i should pay for the pro package, my question was simple, i asked to view the complete selection of styles and greetings available to members of Animoto. The first reply i got was a generic bullshit response telling me the same shit it said on their web page. Thanks for that, dont know if you already noticed, i can write and read, thats how i managed to email you asking a simple question. So being polite i again replied asking a direct question, "So in short, your telling me that there are *only* 11 styles (of which 4 are pro only) and 5 greetings in *total* of your theme library to choose from?" Low and behold, another bullshit reply:- Selecting a style sets the mood for your video, some are more suitable for fast high energy videos whilst others are slower and great for storytelling and showcasing photography. Within each style there are many transitions, chosen by our Cinematic Artificial Intelligence, based on your images and music selections - this means that no two videos are ever the same. As an example, the Animoto Original style is comprised of over 1000 unique transitions. We encourage you to play around with the different styles in order to get an idea of the many possibilities each unlocks for your videos. With Animoto Pro, you do get access to our 4 Elegance Collection styles as well. My reply to this was simple:- You should be a politician, you successfully avoided my question by giving me a bulshit answer. I know full well i asked a simple straight forward question ( see above ). Regardless of how fancy your AI system is, the fact remians that you have a low selection of styles and greetings to choose from. Your response has made my decision for me, that and the numerous negative reviews i have read regarding Animoto. Thank you for nothing, i wont be using your services and will gladly add my own comments to the numerous reviews regarding Animoto. Sincerely Dissapointed.
By RON on 01 Sep 2010 at 16:23
YOU ALL ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT... RUN FROM ANIMOTO AS FAST AS YOU CAN !!! THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY, THEN DO NOT PROVIDE CUSTOMER SUPPORT. I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO CALL THE COMPANY, AND GET NO RESPONSE. I HAVE EMAILED THEM, AND GET NO RESPONSE. THEY DO NOT ADVERTISE THEIR PHONE NUMBER,AND THEY HAVE NO WAY OF ESCALATING MAJOR ACCOUNT CONCERNS AND ISSUES. IS THIS EVEN A LEGITIMATE COMPANY ?????? I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING HOW MANY PEOPLE LOST MONEY TO THIS THANKLESS COMPANY.

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