Mac OS X

Picture Switcher: Pricy But Pleasurable

By EAN ⋅ October 9, 2007 ⋅  Email this Post ⋅  Print this Post ⋅ Post a Comment

Developer: Night Productions
Version: 2.0.2
Price: $30 USD
Operating System: Mac OS X
Click here to give Picture Switcher a try.

Fun? Yes. Necessary? Of Course Not.

During my first year in college, my dorm-mate introduced me to program for Windows that automatically changed my desktop background. I had this huge collection of wallpapers that I had amassed, so it was really cool to see the pictures change at a predefined interval. Six years later, apparently changing the desktop background is now some sort of premium task that we’re supposed to shell out lots of cash for. And this is where Picture Switcher for Mac OS X comes in.

Now, I’m not going to judge Picture Switcher on its price (which I happen to think is outrageous for what is essentially a background changer) because I think the program deserves better than that. Picture Switcher is a damn fine program. Looks great, operates well, eats processing power for breakfast. That’s right. If you’re using a MacBook like me, you don’t want to set Picture Switcher to change the wallpaper too often or you’d better prepare yourself for lag city. I’m sure it works great on other Macs, but the Intel GMA 950 video card just can’t handle the strain.

OK, so Picture Switcher costs a lot and makes your computer drag. What’s so good about it? It’s fun and it looks damn sharp. I could watch that Core Image powered ripple effect over and over again - but then I wouldn’t get any work done. Tweak the program galore. Set up your own times for how long between background changes. Modify the transition effects. You can even warp the hell out of your background. Don’t ask my why you’d want to - but the option is there. Picture Switcher even supports Apple Script and keyboard shortcuts. It’s great to see so much room for tweaking in a program that’s basically an overgrown preference pane.

Another spiffy feature of Picture Switcher is a built in image viewer. The program corrals all of the pictures in your specified folders and dumps them into one big image viewer. Almost like iPhoto lite (very lite), this image viewer comes in real handy when deciding which backgrounds to use. iPhoto, which came with your computer for free, also comes with this feature, of course. But it’s a nice inclusion anyway.

Alright, so the final verdict. Picture Switcher is a great, fun to use, highly customizable program that I highly recommend - if it were $5 - $10. But the current $30 price tag is just way too much. My advice: watch sites like MacZOT and MacUpdate Promo for this to go on sale and then snatch it up when you can. In the meantime, give it spin during its 30 day trial.

Click here to check out Picture Switcher

- Eric Norton