Feed Sign in with OpenID OpenID

Simon Willison’s Weblog

Thanks a bundle, HP

I needed to scan a couple of signed documents at work, as a cheaper alternative to locating a fax machine. The office scanner is an HP scanjet 4570c. I plugged it in to the back of my PowerBook to see if it would work straight away, as pretty much everything else I’ve plugged in has. It didn’t. Fair enough, I can’t expect Apple to pre-install drivers for everything. So I headed over to HP’s site to grab the necessary software.

All 170 MB of it!

Opera 7 is 3.8 MB. FireFox is 10 MB. Heck, the whole Mozilla suite is only 15 MB. What on earth could a scanner need that’s more than ten times the size of Mozilla?

So I gritted my teeth and proceeded with the download. Ten minutes later (thank goodness for broadband) the installer started up, and cheerfully told me I would have to quit all of my applications so it could restart my machine. If I clicked OK, it would shut them all down for me before proceeding with the install. Definitely no chance of me doing some useful work while it was copying over 7,000 files around my computer. Who needs multi-tasking anyway?

Gngngnngngng.

Another ten minutes later (I run a lot of apps) and the installer’s off on its merry way. A while after that it restarts my Mac. Time to see why goodies HP has provided:

  • HP Photo and Imaging Director (added to my Dock, thanks for asking(!))
  • HP Photo and Imaging Gallery
  • HP Quick Print
  • HP E-mail Portal
  • HP PrecisionScan Pro
  • HP ScanJet Copy Utiliy
  • HP ScanJet Manager
  • HP Scanner Preferences
  • ScanLaunch
  • HP Send To Application
  • HP Share-to-Web
  • Memories Disc
  • HP WebUpdate
  • Readiris 7 Pro (OCR software)
  • HP Uninstaller

I took a guess and fired up Imaging Director, taking the addition to my Dock as a clue that this was the best place to start. Options included “Scan Picture” and “Scan Document”. “Scan Document” launched the OCR software, then promptly crashed. “Scan Picture” managed to scan the image, dropping it in to Imaging Gallery. It wasn’t at all obvious what Imaging Gallery was actually for, so I dragged the scan back out of it, opened it in my own choice of image software and did what I needed to do.

I’m now left with 170 MB of useless, apparently buggy software. Thank goodness for the uninstaller. Does using a scanner really have to involve this much hassle?

Posted 1st April 2004 at 3:10 am

This is Thanks a bundle, HP by Simon Willison, posted on 1st April 2004.

View blog reactions

Next: Microsoft "get" blogging

Previous: 1GB of webmail from Google

60 comments

  1. It has always been thus with scanners. At least we aren't using SCSIs any more.

    Vicki Smith - 1st April 2004 05:30 - #

  2. I have an HP OfficeJet all-in-one device. The OS X drivers for this thing are ridiculous! My simple G4 used to run just fine with 256MB of RAM before the HP drivers. After installing the drivers, I was forced to upgrade my memory just to be able to run my web browser and occasionally print things. Really ridiculous. HP needs to hire some real Mac developers.

    They have already figured out how to do this right on the PC side of things. The PC driver package is similarly large, but I just noticed last week that they now offer a "corporate" driver package. This is basically a no-frills printer driver. It's intended for those who use the printer on a network (which is the only way I ever connect to a printer). It's <10MB. It comes with an installer, but you can skip it and just point Windows at the installer directory when it asks you to choose which printer model you have. Simple and small. Why can't they do this on the Mac?

    Scott Johnson - 1st April 2004 06:01 - #

  3. I've vowed never to buy another HP product in my life if I can help it. They're awful.

    We love our *tiny* and cheap Canon LiDE 30.

    By the way, before I buy any product, I make sure to visit the web site and see how easy it is to download drivers, get support, etc. If they charge or make me buy a CD or something, I look elsewhere.

    Keith - 1st April 2004 06:47 - #

  4. We bought an all in one for at home use (PC). Bad move - every time we spark up the computer the installer has to do something. Every time we want to print over the network, we have to re-install (add the printer) to the local machine.

    A real disaster, I don't remember having these problems before with HP products, maybe it's a scanner thing...

    Mike P. - 1st April 2004 07:24 - #

  5. Rather stupidly I downloaded "upgrade" to HP scanner software - it succeeded in crashing my PC big time after each scan.! I then tryed re-installing software - love the options that always lead to the same conclusion - That is you have to instal the whole crummy package. Is there anyone who knows where you can get some simple drivers for these beasts?

    Geoff - 1st April 2004 08:32 - #

  6. You might want to check out VueScan. I have used it a couple of times with an old Umax SCSI scanner and it served its purpose. Your scanner isn't specifically listed as supported, but at 1.9 megs, it sure beats the HP download.

    David - 1st April 2004 08:49 - #

  7. I often tell people HP makes great hardware. Then I tell them HP makes horrible software. Wish we could help them do something about it...

    Rob Eberhardt - 1st April 2004 09:10 - #

  8. May I second David's VueScan suggestion for anyone wanting to scan on an Apple. [that's not my brother David is it? April 1st?]

    andrew - 1st April 2004 11:13 - #

  9. As Viki said "It has always been thus with scanners" and that's pretty much been my experience as well. Scanners just haven't gotten user experience treatment that other peripherals have. Or at least the ones I've dealt with haven't...

    Pete Prodoehl - 1st April 2004 15:58 - #

  10. I don't know about your scanner but my HP 4570c (more scanner then I wanted, but it was a gift) and it's truly monstrous 232mb driver download got a lot more palatable when I discovered that, despite having to download the whole thing, I could choose to just install the TWAIN driver. At least under win2k I can.

    mike - 1st April 2004 20:21 - #

  11. Did you try launching Apple's Image Capture with the scanner attached?

    I whined for weeks about the crappy-happy software that came with my Epson scanner. Then by accident, I found that Image Capture supports it with its perfectly satisfactory interface — it even lets me program the convenience buttons on the scanner front.

    Good luck.

    Michael Z. - 2nd April 2004 21:43 - #

  12. I've enjoyed precisely the same experience with an HP all-in-one. As a copier and fax it performs beautifully (functions not related to a connected PC or Mac, of course). As a media card reader, it works a treat-- pop in my camera's memory stick and it'll mount the volume and launch iPhoto. As a printer it works like a charm-- no extra drivers, no hassle, prints from the network, piece of cake.

    I'm yet to be able to use it as a scanner.

    170mb of useless tripe that does a lousy job of replicating preinstalled software, dogs the system, and sports a revolting interface? Awesome.

    Chris Clark - 4th April 2004 16:16 - #

  13. Hey Vicki, speak for yourself. I'm still happily using my ancient Epson Expression 636 scanner with a SCSI card in my PowerMac dual1Ghz G4, using the Silverfast SE driver. I don't have any problems with SCSI at all, other than that to have the OS recognize the scanner, I have to have the scanner powered on at boot time (not a problem since I reboot about once every month or so).

    If your scanner software sucks, you really should check out SilverFast SE, it's really cheap, $50, and supports a wide variety of scanners, even old discontinued ones without any current drivers, like my Epson. You can download trial versions from silverfast.com and if it works OK, you can buy a serial number online to unlock it.

    I've been considering upgrading to SilverFast AI, which is their top end software at about $500 IIRC, it has all the pro tools like ICC profiling, I haven't seen such an advanced scanner driver since I used to work on a $250k drum scanner. But I haven't found a scanner I like that is good enough for the software. No, all scanner drivers don't suck, it should be obvious in this case that I've found a driver I like so much that I need to find a good scanner to go with the driver! And I am especially fond of the Silverfast guys because they support legacy hardware so I don't have to buy new equipment.

    Charles - 5th April 2004 21:20 - #

  14. I just returned my HP 2510 after two weeks of frustration with the HP Director software bundle. I purchased it largely for its ethernet capability and space-saving design. As a previous contributor noted: "Good hardware, lousy software." I had read the warnings, but thought "well, with my above average PC and technical skills, I'll be able to work my way through any problems. After all, it's HP -- a quality company." Alas, I was wrong.

    As many have already noted, the software load is disturbingly large, and does not provide options for 'bare bones' installs. I figured I could load one machine and set "Share Printer" for the other machines in my network of about 5 machines (mostly WinXP). I loaded Director on one of my machines and hoped for the best.

    I had no trouble with networking. My router's DHCP assigned it an address and I could ping it consistently. Printouts were very nice; the fax worked great; the memory card reader was terribly s-l-o-w (it took more than one hour(!) to download a half-full 512Mbyte SanDisk CF to my PC), but at least it functioned.

    The scanner was more troublesome. It was a real struggle to get scans from the HP Director software. Especially frustrating was the apparent need to reset all the tweeks (page size, b/w thresholds) for *each* scan in a multipage document. The software would hang after 2 or 3 scans.

    The "Status" function of HP Director would rarely recognize the 2510 (hooked up via wired ethernet), even though commands were transmitted and data returned. The Director software was always very slow to react to commands, often worrying me with thoughts of "Did it hang" or "Did my mouse miss the target?" I tried the primative web interface -- even that interface was a bit spotty. The Director software sent scanning output as a PDF file -- JPEG was available for single scans, but seemed to be unavailable as an option in multiple scans. If I seem to be vague about what was happening, it's because the software just seemed ponderous.

    There are mentions in chat forums of conflicts between Norton 2003 and HP Director -- Norton One-Button-Checkup reports a missing file -- something you may wish to look into. I'm running WinXP Pro (with up-to-date patches), Norton 2003 AV, with a decent processor and about 1/2 Gig of RAM. FYI, my level of technical knowledge is such that I know enough to avoid most obvious problems.

    I might have struggled with this device a bit longer, but my 2-week return window was closing (kudos to Staples for a no hassle return policy). I think I'll avoid any more "All-in-One" products and stick to simpler devices with simpler drivers. It's a shame, because the HP 2510 really had all the features I wanted, and I've until now always been delighted with past HP purchases (everything from my first HP-67 calculator to plotters to Network Analyzers).

    BabyBop - 8th April 2004 18:13 - #

  15. We have been sent some baby pics, but the file has .albm extension and I can not open it. I thought maybe someone here might know

    Ben Walsh - 9th April 2004 10:58 - #

  16. just to let you know keith, i work for hp customer care, and canon printers are made a distrubuted by us as well, you see canon is hp and hp is canon get it?? good now enjoy your printer :-)

    joshua - 30th April 2004 20:29 - #

  17. mr walsh, the extension of the files is in album format. This occurs mostly with a lot of imaging software. Try having them send the pics in a readable format such as .jpg .gif or .bmp that would most likely yield better results.

    joshua - 30th April 2004 20:32 - #

  18. I've tried everything to get rid of blue/green tint background on scanned images--hp 5400c. Too late to take it back, as it did operate fine for some time. Should I throw it out the window, or is there a permanent fix that's lurking in the ethernet somewhere?

    L. - 11th May 2004 21:02 - #

  19. Joshua, You're typical of the snide arrogant pricks that make up the oxymoron known as HP SUPPORT. I don't know, nor do I care if HP makes and distributes Canon equipment (although I'll be sure to add Canon to my list of vendors never to use now), but I do know that your statement: "you see canon is hp and hp is canon get it?? good now enjoy your printer " is typical of the asshole "screw the customer" employees that infest HP - which goes right to the top with the queen bitch Carly Fiorina (sp - don't care). Did you catch the Wall Street Journal article last week? The one that highlighted the desperate competitive situation HP/Compaq is in. HP is now buying deals for market share, something Carly said they'd never do and hopelessly behind Dell in distribution efficiency. Case in point. On the same day, at HPshopping.com a Presario 6300NX was listed at $450, at Circuit City it was selling for $550 (both heavily discounted prices), but your company is so damn screwed up there's not even AWARENESS that you're undercutting one of your biggest channel distributors by 20%. This pisses off both consumers and distributors - this is one of many examples of your organization siloes and incompetence... And buying Compaq just made it worse. Better get the resume polished up asshole, because HP is on a long, slow ugly descent and dickweeds like you are disposable to Carly, you jerkoff.

    Joshua is typical of HP - 16th May 2004 03:09 - #

  20. Can I download any software that will open these .abm files

    Ben Walsh - 23rd May 2004 14:16 - #

  21. Have a HP scanjet 4200C which I cannot get to work. Searched the HP site and tried some of their advice. I put Simon in the startup but it continues to give the message " you may have a scanner attached but cannot find it do you want to start program without it" also the status shows as "unavailable" If I go to the systms device manager... it is listed but Hardware version : not available, Device status says: this device is working property. Please I need help... I've spent hous trying to figure it out (I have windows 98) Thanks for the email.

    c Wright - 24th May 2004 18:38 - #

  22. i am also employed by hp i work with the multi function printer office jets and printer scanner copiers 90% of my customers leave happy with their issue resolved if there is a issue i can help you with feel free to email me this is not on behalf of hp but my self and yes i agree that the agent who posted that mesage earlier was quite rude i am sorry you have had bad expeirences with your hp products last thing go hp :)

    louis - 10th June 2004 00:32 - #

  23. To set the record straight, Canon and HP are NOT the same company. In fact, Canon is one of HP's biggest rivals.

    mr m parker - 23rd June 2004 20:24 - #

  24. It's worse than you think. HP Director is not only installed in your dock, but it re-installs itself every time you log in. Worse yet, the Application that installs it isn't called from the StartupItems folder (either of them) but rather an obscure plist file in the global preferences folder that runs things when people log in. You can't even delete the Application (as suggested on the MacAddict site) because the plist file will continue to try to run the non existant Application.

    It has taken me far too long to figure out how to turn this "feature" off. I echo the general sentiment about HP scanners and printers; good hardware, bad software.

    Dave.

    Dave - 1st October 2004 01:14 - #

  25. I have an HP ScanJet IIP, and never had any trouble with it or the drivers under Windows NT 4.0. I don't remember the size or anything about the installation, but with the discreprency between the age of the scanner and the age of the hard drive, I don't think I even checked the size - I think the PC has a 4G drive in it or so.

    I also have an HP PhotoSmart P1000 - and the drivers under Windows NT 4.0. Again, no troubles.

    Also, as we're discussing HP in general, the HP-9000s and HP-UX that we used at work were all splendid and didn't cause troubles, and HP Support was great. However, their computers also seemed to cause trouble and were funky.

    David - 28th February 2005 20:43 - #

  26. so.. spent a while getting my windows 2000 server Pc up and ready to be a ... umm.. let see a SERVER and then i head off to the HP website. silly me thought I could connect up the all-in-one and share it as a printer to the rest of my pc's. so.... 170Mb later ! - i only want a bloody driver.. i press Setup and i'm presented with 'windows 2000 server is not a supported operating system. it actually only tells you this in the release notes that comes with the 170mb - not on the previous 10 hP webpages i've had to go through to get to the download. what a bunch of assholes.

    Arfur Midataykitback - 20th March 2005 09:55 - #

  27. My HP5470C worked great with my Windows ME system. Then I foolishly installed XP Home plus service pack 2. The scanner was no longer recognised. Umpteen Emails to HP Support, ten days of trial and error, following their complex correction advice (more than a dozen pages) including uninstalling and reinstalling, clearing out all other hardware and running the HP in isolation, ALL FAILED! I now have an expensive piece of junk for sale - any offers? If anyone at HP is reading this I'd appreciate a call!

    LaurieM - 23rd March 2005 21:01 - #

  28. I have a HpPhotoSmart P1000.I can print a photo good but to print another I have to restartPC Any help me please?

    roy - 27th March 2005 22:19 - #

  29. helo please send me hp director software

    Farhan Memon - 29th March 2005 12:35 - #

  30. Where i can get the HP director?

    Mark - 12th April 2005 21:47 - #

  31. NEVER EVER BUY AN HP SCANNER AGAIN. I just spend $900 on Scanjet 8250 and I am not even able to scan 5 pages to PDF document. HP Support is lousy. I hope they go out of business soon.

    Mian Khurrum - 27th April 2005 17:47 - #

  32. I've got to say that I thought the packages supplied with the Epson Perfection 12...whateveritis were fairly dire, but, hat off to HP - their software, supplied with our office's HP 8250 is complete and utter rubbish. The user interface is far from intuitive, the number of applications associated with the driver package is well over the top, and why *WHY* such a limited number of formats to save your work to? What happened to JPeg, GIF, RAW and good old BMP? I mean, come on HP - this is what your customers want - aren't you going to listen to us?

    Paul - 23rd May 2005 11:28 - #

  33. How come my 2710 scans perfectly, but at least 1/2 of the time doesn't save the scanned images? Yeah...I know to look in my documents/my scans....it ain't there. This is exasperating after spending time scanning whole chapters only to find that nothing got saved! Sometimes things work out correctly, but about 1/2 of the time, I've just wasted my time trying to scan. FWIW...everytime I restart my computer there's an HP exe of some sort that won't close. The printer is really nice, but the software/drive is beyond awful!

    Ceci - 17th June 2005 04:15 - #

  34. HP PSc 2510? Absolutely useless software! Spent the last year using it as more as an expensive printer than anything else. It cocks up the system in many ways. HP should by now have apologised, and they should have released at least a bug fix or update that actually works.

    Clay - 27th June 2005 20:55 - #

  35. Mahalo to David for the Vuescan headsup website...i gave up on my hp 4570c because when installed it slowed down my brand new G5...so i went back to my older epson perfection 1250 with the Vuescan software and i am a happy scanner...only problem is the multiple steps with vuescan...but like most of you i rarely scan things into my G5....once again thank you from wayne from hawaii...

    Wayne - 29th June 2005 19:04 - #

  36. mmm after searching online for reviews on the HP PSC 2710 and finding so many posts talking about problems with HP hardware and support, I have decided NOT to buy any HP product. Thanks guys - dont you love the net! cheers karen (from downunder)

    Karen - 7th July 2005 21:46 - #

  37. it thosent work no more im not able to scan pictures any more please help me thank you

    natasha - 10th July 2005 23:16 - #

  38. Wow, here am looking for drivers for my scanjet 4570c ( Apple G4 Mirrored doors) and what do I find, everyone (except Louise) is having a hard time with HP software. Have things improved? is there a driver available ? if so can someone point me in the right direction. George

    George Higgins - 26th July 2005 19:00 - #

  39. Getting a HP PSC 1315 (or any other) to work on Windows 2000 SERVER is almost impossible. Luckily, I searched the web and found this gem: http://reliableanswers.com/pc/hp-psc.asp How to over ride the installers detection functions! Seems to work.

    mike - 28th July 2005 10:23 - #

  40. I have tried to install this 2510 piece of crap software for hours. The only thing that seems to work is software update. I need 99% of time only printing. This is definately the last time I ever purchase anything HP. All HP printer software I have seen in the past has been of poor quality. Software available for 2510 is something you cannot talk in terms of quality.

    janne - 5th September 2005 17:56 - #

  41. I have some pictures files with an ALBM file extension and I can"'t get into them. Is there a program I can download that will let me do this ? THANX-Bob Taylor

    Bob Taylor - 1st October 2005 12:54 - #

  42. I have a question, I want to install scanjet 8250 on windows server 2003, but theres a problem, I think theres not driver for the SO

    Juan - 7th October 2005 18:42 - #

  43. I would also like to know what openes a .albm file extension, you all are avoiding the question. If you open the file in the album printer, the save and save as.. boxes are conveniently grayed out. Ive downloaded every app HP has and I would like to know how to convert the crappy .albm file back into a standard formatt like .jpg thanks

    mike - 13th October 2005 19:20 - #

  44. The .albm extension was used in HP Director version 1.0 and possibly 2.0. 1.0 was supplied with devices such as the Photosmart 7550 and other printers of that time. Unfortunately later versions of Director no longer seem to support this filetype. I currently have the same problem but still have the individual images that make up the album so will recreate with an alternative product. If you need to open the .albm and do not have the original images you will need to obtain the older software - it available from HP but not for download.

    chris - 14th October 2005 13:13 - #

  45. I've also problems with albm files. The HP software does not support my paper size (europe). It is possible to add different papersizes however the options to make nice albums become very limited. Therefore I would like to know if someone has some printer drivers to convert the albm files to a more standard format in which I can resize the album pages. I was not able to find any driver myself on internet, but maybe someone else has one. Thanks

    marco pool - 8th November 2005 23:23 - #

  46. FlashFixers, a data recovery company, can convert .albm files to .jpg files. If anyone is still interested they may contact me.

    rich - 12th November 2005 05:08 - #

  47. how do I get to open those ABM files????

    Charles G Frey - 23rd January 2006 07:02 - #

  48. I bought a HP multifunction scanner/printer/copier. The software and drivers are awful. It takes for ever to install and slows down the computer so much that I removed the HP machine from my computer, used it as a foot stool, sold the extra cartridges and power supply on E.bay and put the HP-install CD with my "AOL disk collection!" HP used to make OK software.For example the older version of the HP photosmart software was just fine. Why on the earth don't the separate the device drivers from their imaging software? There are so many free or inexpensive produts for imaging and image management, that come standard on all computers these days. HP needs to focus on its core produts and make sure they work without hogging system resources. These devices as they are currently sold, will not work smoothly, unless you have at least a gig of RAM. It should not be so!

    Narayanachar Murali - 3rd April 2006 03:10 - #

  49. Awful shamefully bad - HP I hope someone in your company is reading these posts - HP Director and the whole lousy bundle of crap that is imposed on the user when installing. Who's running this company anyway?

    james marshall - 26th April 2006 06:59 - #

  50. iMac G5, OS 10.4.6, HP PSC 1615, HP Device Manager 1.0.2 When I scan, I get a scan preview window. When the scan completes, the window disappears, leaving no trace of the scan. Where the hell is it? Why can't I send it anywhere? Why can't I choose a format? Why is the bloated pig of and HP software update so useless? Why offer an update if it is less functional than the previous version? Help.

    c. clover - 3rd May 2006 05:42 - #

  51. iMac G5, OS 10.4.6, HP PSC 1615, HP Device Manager 1.0.2 When I scan, I get a scan preview window. When the scan completes, the window disappears, leaving no trace of the scan. Where the hell is it? Why can't I send it anywhere? Why can't I choose a format? Why is the bloated pig of and HP software update so useless? Why offer an update if it is less functional than the previous version? Help.

    c. clover - 3rd May 2006 05:42 - #

  52. iMac G5, OS 10.4.6, HP PSC 1615, HP Device Manager 1.0.2 When I scan, I get a scan preview window. When the scan completes, the window disappears, leaving no trace of the scan. Where the hell is it? Why can't I send it anywhere? Why can't I choose a format? Why is the bloated pig of and HP software update so useless? Why offer an update if it is less functional than the previous version? Help.

    c. clover - 3rd May 2006 05:42 - #

  53. I concur with the sentiment 'good hardware, bad software', although ink prices are also a bit steep. I work for an organisation that distributes computers to foster children, and we will typically buy 50-100 printers every couple of months. We have been using HP 1300 and 1400 series AIO printers, as they are small and inexpensive. However, the quality of the software included in the package has caused us to consider sourcing our printers from elsewhere. The size of the install files and the time it takes to install a printer is outrageous, the interface is poorly designed, the software is slow, intrusive, and inflexible, I could go on. I beleive that this is partly the fault of poor programming, and partly the .NET platform they chose. If these devices had practical, unobtrusive software with a standard interface and reasonable install times, I believe these devices would be amongst the best available in their price range.

    Cam - 4th May 2006 06:51 - #

  54. What a bunch of losers.............using windows 2000 server?? and want to connect an all in one to it???????? What for? you use a server for printing photos??? I bet a 100$ your OS is pirated. And people using windows NT?????? come on microsoft doesnt even talk about it now..........and keep on cribbing about the size of the software because on the website there is "full software" and "basic software".........so you have a choice. And since when did the person running the company start programming software????? Good go i cant even imagine such a sad bunch of losers working on a computer.......

    victor - 25th May 2006 21:17 - #

  55. For anyone that actually uses windows, just get the drivers on there so it can work and without doing the software bundle, just use windows scanner and camera wizard...it works good enough anyway.

    Dan - 2nd July 2006 06:52 - #

  56. HP ARE CRAP! stay with CANON or Epson i think they only thing hp get half right, are they office jet printers other then that i wouldn't touch a piece of HP equipment unless i had to! stay clear if you can, dont be fooled by their products jargon yes they make it sound all light and shining but it might aswell be covered in shit before they send you it atleast that way u can tell its shit as soon as you open the box!

    bob junior - 3rd July 2006 13:58 - #

  57. I'm running W2K Server for a specific purpose, but I still need to print to the networked printer from it on occasion, which is an HP PSC2510. All I want to do is choose the appropriate printer driver when setting up the printer. It's networked wirelessly, just point to the IP, install the windows driver and move on. Can't do that! Gotta download the 50mb minimal install driver, which doesn't even install on W2K Server. Anyone know where I can get nothing but a simple printer driver?

    Stretch - 12th August 2006 17:12 - #

  58. I love reading HP hate about the 2510. Bloatware and no mistake on the "fully featured" download. Trying the 45meg basic driver now. Hope it doesnt hammer my start up times like Director did.

    Louie - 9th October 2006 18:02 - #

  59. Hi Konvertor reads/converts those ALBM files. (and hundreds of other formats too) http://www.konvertor.net/indexe.html

    Yann - 13th October 2006 08:08 - #

  60. Thanks very much to David for his suggestion (1st April 2004 08:49) to try VueScan software as a replacement for the abysmal software that comes with HP scanners (see http://www.hamrick.com/).

    I tried VueScan (trial is free), then purchased, it, and it now has prevented me from throwing the HP Scanjet 3970 out the window. The HP Photo and Imaging Director Software (version 2.2) that comes with the Scanjet 3970 has one of the poorest user interfaces I have ever seen (I'm a software user interface consultant/evaluator), has frequent launching problems ("program busy, try again") and has memory leak and runtime problems. However VueScan saved HP's hide once again.

    ADVICE: Canon has about the best scanners PLUS software interfaces for scanning software and drivers. At the same time, if you're thinking of getting an HP scanner, or already have one, use VueScan to replace/displace HP's scanning software, and you'll THEN think you made a good decision in using the HP scanner. (HP should buy VueScan and package it with their scanners!!!)

    Don, Edgewater, MD - 19th October 2006 19:44 - #

Comments are closed.

Previously hosted at http://simon.incutio.com/archive/2004/04/01/hpsux

A django site