The Digital Entertainment Series is supported by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10, the seriously entertaining smartphone that knows how to have fun. Check it out here.

More than 130 years after George Eastman invented roll film, still photography remains one of the most expressive and enduring ways that individuals from all over the world capture and share their experiences. That's why it's not really a surprise that photo sharing sites were some of the first social sites to appear on the Internet.

Today, the photo sharing category of sites and apps is largely dominated by the two big players, Facebook and Flickr. Both services are a great way to share photographs and video with family members, friends, online acquaintances and even the random Internet visitor. However, the world of photo sharing sites and tools goes far beyond just these services.

Here are four of our favorite photo sharing alternatives for the photo lover in us all.







What It Is: SmugMug is a site with a central focus on making it easy to showcase and organize your photographs — whether you want to sell them or not.

How It's Different: SmugMug is really focused on making sure your photos are safe, secure and easy to access. There are no bandwidth caps and no limits on the number of photos you can host. You can choose to password-protect all or some of your photos or galleries, add custom watermarks and share photos on social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.

How Much It Costs: SmugMug Basic is $5 per month or $40 per year. For $60 per year or $8 per month, you can upgrade to SmugMug Power and get more customization options and the ability to upload and embed 1080p video. SmugMug Pro is $20 per month or $150 per year and includes tons of e-commerce options for the professional photographer.

Other Tidbits: SmugMug has apps for iPhone, iPad and Android and has plugins for iPhoto, Aperture and Adobe Lightroom 3. That means you can easily and seamlessly upload your photos directly from your camera or from your photo app of choice.







What It Is: Picplz is a photo sharing app that makes it easy to share your photos to Facebook and Twitter, while also checking in to Foursquare.

How It's Different: While not purely a photo sharing app — you can browse, comment and upload photos using the website — mobile is the big focus with picplz. The app and the website also let you apply filters to your photos, stuff like toy camera, '70s and cross-processed.

How Much It Costs: Picplz is free and available in the App Store or the Android Market. You can also sign up for a free account at picplz.com.

Other Tidbits: Picplz has already closed a $5 million first round, led by Andreessen Horowitz.







What It Is: Instagram is an iPhone app that lets you take photos and share them with your friends on Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Tumblr and Foursquare. You can also apply various filters and transformations to your photos.

How It's Different: Instagram is most similar to picplz, but it has a hint of Hipstamatic in it as well. What sets it apart is its ease of sharing, browsing and commenting.

How Much It Cost: Instagram is free.

Other Tidbits: Instagram had more than 100,000 downloads in its first week of release.







What It Is: Path is a website and iPhone app that lets you share your photos with a select group of people.

How It's Different: Path limits you to 50 network connections, based on a theory that states that humans can only sustain 150 social relationships. By limiting users to a smaller network, Path hopes that the sharing and capturing experience can be more personal and more special.

How Much It Costs: Path is free.

Other Tidbits: Path has a high-profile list of founders and investors, including Shawn Fanning, Kevin Rose and Ron Conway.

Your Picks

What are some of your favorite non-Flickr/Facebook places to share photos? Let us know in the comments!

Series Supported by Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10







The Digital Entertainment Series is supported by the Sony Ericsson Xperia™ X10, the seriously entertaining smartphone that knows how to have fun. Check it out here.

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