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Am3 Community - News/Updates: The A+ Membership

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    When is this going to be available? Just curious.
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeMar 24th 2008
     
    Hi Edward - I still don't have a date available but can tell you this is the main feature we are developing right now and hope to have it working soon. Mainly we are developing and testing our subscription/payment logic. We'll post an update when we have a better idea of our schedule.
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      CommentAuthortravelpix
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     
    The A+ membership looks a bit of expensive. At this point I am waiting for an increase of the serverspeed at aminus...
    At the moment fl**** is much faster in responding so that the price for the membership isn´t the best for me.

    Just for an example:
    Pro Account at fl**** for 24 month 47,99$,
    A+ premium for12 month 45,00$ by subscription.
    After the subscription the price will rise to 71.40$???

    Any comments/suggestions?
  4.  
    This may be a dumb question, but, what do I gain with A+ membership? I don't know what any of these items mean: 100% quality image processing (no compression), Access to the latest, beta functionality before it goes public, Integrated support for Google Analytics.
    Can someone help me out here?
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      CommentAuthortravelpix
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     
    "Access to the latest, beta functionality before it goes public" means: you will test the bugs before they go public,

    scnr,
    Michael
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      CommentAuthorbsurprised
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     
    @ Anita
    100% quality image processing (no compression) means you can upload your images without the current compression that is used over all images to preserve bandwidth. Your high quality images will be the same on the site as they were on your computer.
    Integrated support for Google Analytics means you can add your photoblog to your analytics account on google, add your given ID to AM3 and start collecting statistics about visitors and everything that happens in your photoblog.
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      CommentAuthorbsurprised
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     
    @travelpix
    One feature that I'm very much waiting for is the top request on AM3 survey a little while back:
    Customized page layout or more flexible templates 74.0%

    If that comes to action, AM3 will definitely be a better photoblog service compared to fl**** (why not the name? :D)
    Well I just prefer it over flickr already, having a full size front page in a small community and a very good photoblog-like exposure, or in other words, a site of my own.
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      CommentAuthortravelpix
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008
     
    @ bsurprised:
    Yep, that would be nice feature. But there is still a lack of speed on my site of the web.
    And the pricing still irritates me.

    If the A+ comes with
    -more speed
    - *real* advances comparing to the free account
    ...it will be mine!
    • CommentAuthorandrewgould
    • CommentTimeApr 4th 2008 edited
     
    Referring to what travelpix has said above, it appears to me that it's $US45 a year, and that the saving mentioned is compared to paying for less than a year. I don't think it means that this will go up immediately after the first year of subscription is over.

    I'm quite happy with the features offered for free members (except for the limit of 30 on the blogwatch). That means that my main reason to take out A+ membership would be to support Aminus3 and say thanks for providing this great site, which has the best community atmosphere of any photo site that I've come across and/or been a part of on the Internet in the last five years.

    What I've said above, does not mean that I think others should not question the features in the A+ account or what they will have to pay for them. I wish, though, that as well as the A+ offer, there was a way for members who don't need the extra features to simply pay what they would like to, whenever they wanted as a donation, as can be done on VFXY Photos, for example.

    I have to add here that one problem for me is that I really don't want to pay by Paypal, as I don't like the way they operate. A few years ago, I used them to pay for one year only on a photo forum and had two problems. Firstly, I made a repeated mistake in registering credit card details with Paypal, and was then obliged to deposit $US1.95 in my account with them, even though I emailed their support on this and explained how it had happened. They just replied and said there was no other way. That money has just sat there, earning them interest for the last few years, and I don't like the principle of this. The second problem was that after my first year with the forum, I found that Paypal had used my credit card number to pay the forum again without making it clear to me that it had automatically set up a subscription, when I had intended it to be just a one off payment. I had to ask the forum owner to refund my money when I did not want to continue as a member, and I was very luck that he did.

    I would like to see some other way to transfer a payment to aminus3 that not only would avoid the use of Paypal, but would also allow those members to pay in countries where Paypal cannot be used.
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    I appreciate the answers to my questions. I don't think I need any of the new features.

    I agree with the main points made by andrewgould: I would like to support AM3 financially as it is providing a service that serves my needs and is a wonderfully supportive and friendly photoblog community; and, I also prefer not to use paypal (although I could do so).

    The main feature I would like: is increased speed. I have noticed AM3 lagging and taking longer and longer to load in the last month. I find this annoying. I would pay for increased speed.
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2008
     
    Thanks all for the recent comments and opinions of our new A+ service.

    With regard to cost of Flickr vs. other photography websites... there are a lot of other sites out there besides Flickr - most are more expensive and a few less. Many of these sites charge for features we offer for free. In the blog space, a Typepad blog costs $90 a year for a standard account and $150 a year for a pro account. Another similar photoblog site to Aminus3 charges £39.99, nearly $80/year. On the flip side, there are still may entirely free photography sites, or sites that cost less than an A+ Premium Membership.

    As the web is widely a free entity, I think there is a misconception for people to weigh the cost of pay services in terms of "what do I get" instead of taking in a bigger picture. There are other factors besides a bullet point list of features. We tend to spend money on what we value. Some people would not hesitate to spend $45 during a night of drinking or enjoying a nice dinner. Perhaps because we have chosen to offer 98% of our service for free, it makes that other 2% of the features not attractive or beneficial enough for some to justify the cost. This is a perfectly valid opinion and we will still continue to offer an excellent free level of service. For those that enjoy the site and want to give something back, this is a way to offer your support. For those that require these extra features, the service is out there. We will continue to grow Aminus3 with both free and premium features and we are thankful to those that can help us out along the way.
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeApr 5th 2008
     
    To answer some of the other questions...

    Michael, Andrew is correct that the prices reflect the savings of paying for a full year instead of month to month. The price does not increase for new or existing members upon renewal.

    Michael and Anita...
    The site should not be slower and recently we have increased our hardware so I would think we would be running faster than ever before - if you experience a slow period, please don't hesitate to contact support@aminus3.com and we will attempt to reproduce or troubleshoot the performance. If you find it slower or faster at different times of the day, that would be helpful to know as well.

    With regard to PayPal, I'm not a huge fan either but it is one of the easier merchant type systems to integrate. We may go with a pure merchant account in the future although some of the countries PayPal does not work with would likely still be affected. We will consider making special arrangements for those people who cannot or do not want to use PayPal. Perhaps I will make another thread for alternatives to PayPal and see what others come up with.

    You should be able to pay by credit card and there should be no extra charges or a need to open any kind of PayPal account. If you have been told otherwise, please let us know so we can discuss it with PayPal support.
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      CommentAuthortravelpix
    • CommentTimeApr 12th 2008
     
    ...again, the site is damned slow at the moment :-(
    • CommentAuthorbenoit
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2008 edited
     
    Hello everyone,
    i have been a member of Aminus3 for more than a year and I would like to say that I'm very satisfied with the aminus3 free features. I have visitors from all over the world and that's really great. However I subscribed to the A+ membership and I am bit disappointed with its features. I don't really make the difference between a 100% quality image and a compressed image and the quality of the image is the most important thing for me, and it would be great if we could reach the quality and the size of a professional photoblog with the A+ membership.
    kind regards
    Benoit
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      CommentAuthorshuva (Admin)
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2008
     
    Hi Benoit,

    Your feedback is most welcome. As per the current state of image quality is concerned most people wont be able to notice the difference when then upload a picture with non-A+ membership vs a A+ upload. However if you upload an image and download it back you will notice a substantial reduction in image size which is due to compression. With A+ membership images are processed with 100% JPEG quality. Pictures for A+ members take up more space on the server due to this as multiple copies of the images are created at upload (large, small, thumnail, etc)

    Images which have a large area of blue (like a sky), green(large foliage) or red(a deep red textured cloth) are ones on which you may may find the image quality better in A+ membership, due to the nature of JPEG compression logic implemented on image processing libraries.

    Also make sure that when you upgrade to A+ membership, you dont change the setting called "Process images using 100% quality?" in your settings page. It should be marked Yes. A+ members have to option to choose the image quality settings.

    Having said all that, we are also aware of some of the limitations of our current image processing engine and the team is evaluating other image processing libraries which offer better images processing and quality. This activity is on a high priority on our development list and we expect that it would soon be available to all A+ members.

    Shuva.//
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeJul 23rd 2008
     
    Hi Benoit

    To echo Shuva's response, thanks for your feedback on the A+ membership.

    When we launched the A+ program, we created a few base extra features that we thought would be beneficial without taking away any of our great free features. We will continue to introduce new A+ features that should be of use to the the "professional photoblogger" audience and are open to any suggestions on what is most needed.

    When you say "reach the quality and the size of a professional photoblog", could you clarify that a bit more? If we allowed A+ members to upload larger images, what size do you think is best for display (1024 width, 1280 width etc)?

    Also please let us know any other A+ features you would like us to create.

    thanks for your time, suggestions and most importantly, your support of Aminus3 through the A+ program!

    jason
    • CommentAuthorbenoit
    • CommentTimeJul 24th 2008
     
    Hi Jason and Shuva,
    thank you for your reply. Sorry if my english is not very accurate, I try to do my best !
    Actually I think the size of images is alright. Maybe a bit bigger would be better like on this site for instance :
    http://www.j-roumagnac.net/index.php?showimage=366
    but 1280 * 1024 is far too big, and it won't fit people's screen most of the time.
    The point is that on this site I think that images are really sharper than on my Am3 photoblog, even with the A+ membership I don't succeed in displaying images as sharp as they look on my computer. But maybe it's my fault I'm not optimizing my pictures correctly.
    Otherwise I don't really see other A+ features, there already are so many with the free membership ! You could maybe add a right click protection on pictures, but it wont prevent screenshots so it's not really compulsory, though it doesn't "damage" the image contrary to a watermark.
    I hope you will understand what I mean !
    Thank you, you're doing a great job at Am3 !
    Benoit
    • CommentAuthorascending
    • CommentTimeJul 24th 2008 edited
     
    I would like to also join this conversation. First, I would just like to say that I think the site is magnificent, and the level of quality for the free membership is outstanding. I think that Aminus3 is by far the highest quality free photoblogging service available, and you guys have done great things with the site.

    On to my question. I too have been a member for over a year, and I have been contemplating the purchase of an A+ account. I am considering purchasing the A+ membership because, as Benoit stated, my uploaded photos (with the basic free membership) never look as sharp and crisp as they do when viewed from my desktop. But as I browse through other photoblogs on Aminus3, I cannot tell that any of them are displaying images at a higher quality than my free account is. Obviously, I have no way to tell whether or not someone has free or A+ membership, but I daily browse through the community shots, and I cannot tell that any photoblog has higher quality image processing than another. I also thought that the big selling point for the A+ membership would be allowing the member to display photos in the full resolution at which they were uploaded (similar to the ability to display "original" size with a Pro Flickr account). But in browsing other Aminus3 photoblogs, I don't ever see an option to view images in 100% resolution.

    So, I guess I am posting to second the sentiments of Benoit (that I cannot distinguish an A+ photo from a basic account compressed photo). And also to ask the question: If I purchase an A+ membership, will my photos be available to visitors at 100% of the resolution/quality that I uploaded them at?

    Thanks!
    Michael
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      CommentAuthorjason (Admin)
    • CommentTimeJul 25th 2008
     
    Thanks Benoit and Michael for your thoughts...

    We are not planning on offering 100% size images at this time (like Flickr's display original setting). This is something we have discussed and we may offer A+ members this feature in the future, however, nothing is planned at the moment.

    As for the current image quality... I will say that right now with our current image engine, some types of images are definitely impacted more than others. Typically, the most noticeable issues are JPG compression artifacts and color banding. The color bands are more noticeable in red and blue images (like sky or red spotlight, sunset etc). In my own experience, I had not noticed my images being less sharp than they appear on my desktop (even before we offered 100% quality upload for A+).

    In many cases, images that are not as sharp as expected are often a result of a bad resizing ratio. More specifically, on upload, we resize images to a width of 800 pixels. If an image slightly larger than 800 pixels (say 802 pixels), it will look noticeably worse when we resize it. Images like 1024px width, 1200px width etc, usually resize much nicer. It is recommended that you resize images to 800 pixel width before uploading for the best possible results.

    As Shuva mentioned, we are also in the process of implementing a new image engine. We are still in the preliminary testing of the new functionality but I think it will do a much better job with those fringe case images that don't upload well in our current system. The new image upload engine will also have many more options than we currently offer for both free and A+ members. I think people will be very impressed and happy with the results. We don't have an official release date but should be rolling this out to A+ members first as a beta before releasing to the general site.

    Michael - regarding your question about whether A+ will give you 100% quality. I welcome you to check out my Aminus3 page (today's image is a good test case given the red lights). This can give you an example of the image quality with A+ quality setting.
    http://jason.aminus3.com/image/2008-07-25.html

    I think that our current image engine does a fairly good job and am confident that our new image engine will be even better.

    cheers,
    jason

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