dotted with dots: Post Bound vs. Photobook

(We R Memory Keepers Linen Album Review)

I had my first photobook printed last year for my 2009 project 365 album. I loved it so much that I decided that going forward I will always have my scrapbooking layouts printed in book form instead of single prints to slide into photo protectors. This is what I love about the photobook (compared to post bound album):

Compact. No bulk from the binding mechanism.
Light. The pages are printed double sided AND there is no added weight from the page protectors.
Costs less. Approximately, pages printed in a photobook are about $1 per page. For a post bound album, nice photographic prints run about $2 per page, plus the cost of page protectors and the album itself.

All of this adds up to me: I'm going to go with photobooks from here on out. However, there is an argument for printing true photographic prints and placing them in page protectors: These types of prints are archival and waterproof. They will probably last longer than a photobook, which is made with ink printed on paper.

I have about 200 layouts that I've already had printed over the last couple years. I've gone through several iterations of albums for these prints, and I want to share with you the journey and my most recent album choice. Here is the reason I've had such trouble: I want as few albums as possible. My 200 prints are mostly from the years 2008 and 2009, plus a few pages with my baby photos. So two albums is ideal, 3 tops.

In the beginning, I started with a small, extendable album, and I used the Snap Load binding system. This was a post bound album, and I removed the posts and glued the Snap Load bands in place. These are similar to plastic zip ties. You pull them tight and press then into the mechanism.

I liked the Snap Load system, but I was trying to put all 200 pages into a single album, and the plastic ties just couldn't handle that load. So then I moved everything into a large ring album:

I liked this at first, but eventually had to concede that 200 pages plus the weight of the page protectors is just too much for one album. It is really heavy. Plus, the album was so long (to accommodate the large ring) that it could not easily fit on any of my shelves.

So I recently decided to break the pages into two albums, and I purchased two
We R Memory Keepers Post Bound Linen Albums in the Silverstone color choice.

These albums are NOT extendable - they have a fixed spine width. But they are generous - the product preview stating they can hold 100 page protectors. The post is a full two inches long. The page protectors have an extra hinge section which allows the pages to extend out of the binding area and lay flatter when the book is open. I love these page protectors - they are nice and thick and plenty roomy. I'm sure they would be great for paper scrappers.

My 200 pages roughly separated in half at the 2008/2009 junction. The 2008 album ended up with 52 page protectors and about 100 layouts. The 2009 album ended up with about 42 page protectors. As each album can actually hold 100 page protectors, they seem a little "empty." But weight wise, I actually wouldn't want to add any more pages. The book with the 52 page protectors actually feels a little over-loaded when you hold it in your lap. This photo below shows the one with only 42 page protectors.

These albums also have this nice label on the spine.

Overall, I think these albums are beautiful and are the best fit that I've found so far for a digiscrapper who is an album minimalist. They look and feel well made, and come in about 8 different colors: bright and bold as well as some more earthy tones and two shades of gray. I bought mine online through Joann. They are a little pricy at $29.99, but I got them at a sale price (%40 off, which looks to still be in effect today).

I think these albums are more suited for paper scrapping given their roominess, which would be perfect for thick and bulky layered paper pages. The wide spine just isn't needed for digi prints. And here is how they look in my TV table: