[paulajean1965]

I have several photos of my Dad. He passed away in January and I would like to make a Memories Disk to give to my brothers. Christmas is coming up fast and I believe they would enjoy seeing some of these older photos!

I want to be able to add music as well as titles {especially to the older photos} so that they can be dated. I have tried to figure this out on my own and have had no luck - not in the right frame of mind, I suppose.

Is there a particular program I am needing?

[ScottGem]

Do you have Microsoft Office? If so, you can use Powerpoint to do this.

There are several other slide show utilities that can do this. Check tucows.com for apps.

[JBeaucaire]

Most XP computers come with Windows Movie Maker. It's a little basic, which to me sound like what you want.

Windows XP: Movie Maker 2.1 Download

Windows Movie Maker: How to use
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Now, there are are many "not quite free" options, too. My wife's school uses Muvee autoProducer 6.1 which they paid $50 for. They drop in music files, as many pics as they want, and press "Make Muvee" and it makes a ready-made moving video of your files with minimal tweaking required. It comes with about 25 Muvee Styles that have been all she's ever needed, though more Muvee Styles are available.

Completed Muvees can be made into a DVD, or a movie (AVI) file published to the web, whatever.

Check it out:

Muvee autoProducer 6.1 - Free Trial

[paulajean1965]

Thanks! I do have Office but never have installed it on my computer. I will give it a whirl.
I will also try these other suggestions. I need to get this done and quick or I will give up on it. LOL

[JBeaucaire]

If you go the PowerPoint route, collect all the pictures you want to use in a single folder on your hard drive, then open a new PowerPoint and use:

Insert > Picture > New Photo Album

Find the folder and click on all the picture, then Insert

Now on the Photo Album settings, select Picture Layout: 1 photo (or whatever), and Frame Shape: Corner Tabs (my favorite), then Create.

Now, click on ALL the slides on the (if you don't see the slides down the left panel, click on the Normal View (Restore Panes) down near the lower left corner.

With all the slides selected, click on Slide Show > Slide Transition and select a smooth transition, like Fade through black (medium), Advance Slide: automatically after 5-6 seconds.

Now, F5 to watch your show.

To add some music, click on the first slide, and select Insert > Movies and Sounds: and find a music file or import one. Set it to play automatically.

When the little sound icon appears in the middle of the slide, right-click on it to select Custom Animation. Set it to Start With Previous, then click on the object on the right panel, select Effect Options, Play from beginning, Stop after 100 slides, OK.

Now F5 to watch your slide show with animation and music.

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All of that, or use a Movie program to do all that more easily and have even cooler video after the same amount of time.

[paulajean1965]

OMG! This is great help! I can't wait to get this started now- Thank you!!