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Updated: 2007-06-19 11:08

You might have countless digital photos stored on your computer - yet sharing or viewing them yourself can be far more burdensome than it should be.

Although we can upload pictures to the Web, or set them as wallpaper on our computer screens, many times we want to enjoy the images the way we always have, not on a computer, but in a photo album or a picture frame.

People now have another choice - the digital photo frame - designed to help review pictures without the fuss and cost of printing them out.

The digital frame allows people to display, not a single picture as with traditional frames before, but with hundreds or even thousands shown automatically in a slide show. Pictures can even be accompanied by background music, usually in MP3 format.

To view photos, images from memory cards, digital cameras or computers can be directly loaded using a USB cable.

Many domestic and foreign manufacturers have introduced a variety of electronic photo frames to the Chinese market since late last year. Such devices usually cost hundreds of dollars, with prices varying depending on brands and features.

Philips was the first international manufacturer to introduce the digital photo frame to the Chinese market.

"Philips doesn't call the digital photo frame as a traditional electronic product, but an innovative and revolutionary technology," says Guo Yuanlong, general manager of Philips China's multimedia display equipment division

"We aren't using usual sales channels of MP3 music players or digital cameras to promote the frames, but plan to use upscale department stores, luxury outlets and household electronic appliance retailers to bring this product to Chinese customers," says Guo.

At the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year, Kodak unveiled four new products that play slideshows, as well as videos and music.

Samsung also introduced its twin SOL-07 and SDP-07 products last year. The two devices enable users to transmit photos taken by mobile phones onto the electronic picture frames.

At least 1.95 million digital photo frames were sold worldwide in 2006, a 157 percent increase from the 760,000 in sales for 2005, and will increase to 4.05 million this year, doubling over the year previous, according to statistics from Beijing ResearchInChina Information Consulting Co Ltd, a market intelligence consultancy.

Because product prices have stayed high, sales volume amounted to less than 10,000 units last year in China, with the gift market accounting for majority, ResearchInChina says.

The majority of the digital photo frames produced in China were exported abroad.

"As more and more domestic producers have entered industry competition since late last year, and as the cost of liquid crystal displays - the frame's core equipment - falls, prices will be rapidly driven down," says Yang Dongyan, an analyst of consumer electronic products at ResearchInChina.

"As prices fall, the consumer trend will transfer from the gift market to personal use purchases," Yang says. Industry analysts say that digital photo frames with advanced technology and fashionable features have a huge potential market if prices drop, given the popularity of digital cameras.

In China, 7.7 million digital cameras were sold last year, an increase of 45 percent from 5.3 million the previous year, according to market researcher Gfk.

Gfk predicts that domestic digital camera sales will hit 9.8 million this year, a 27 percent increase over last year, for an overall total of 20 million in the country.

The biggest difference among the frames is in picture quality. Better LCD screens have vibrant colors and deep black, while poorer ones display washed-out colors and charcoal gray instead of black.

Many frames are adjustable to be set vertically or horizontally in landscape or portrait orientation.

Apart from automatic slide show and scrolling through images manually in browse mode, custom slide shows are also available in some brands.