Photo Go 1.0

Sony has entered the digital-imaging software fray, putting its Photo Go 1.0 application up against titles such as Adobe Photoshop Album and Corel Photo Album. With this market so well catered for, Sony could be wasting its time. However, Photo Go has an ace up its sleeve - it's genuinely intuitive and simple to use.

If you need any high-end features then Photo Go isn't for you. If you don't know anything about photo management and editing, yet want to organise and touch up your photos, then this is perfect. It's replete with easy-to-understand tutorials that take you through every aspect of the software. Even if you've never used an image-editing program before, you will be up-to-speed and able to handle this package within minutes.

Photos can be instantly imported from a camera, memory card reader or folder on your PC - you're guided through each of these processes when the time comes. You can organise your photos by adding tags, a process which is easier here than in any other application we've seen. Alternatively, use the Views folders, which group images chronologically. If you wish, you can create custom Views.

Double clicking on a photo pulls up the editing space. Click on a menu item and all the relevant tools pop up, accompanied by simple instructions. Here, you will see previews of any changes made; undoing them is a matter of clicking a button.

The software walks you through sharing your photos, helping you to print them either on your own photo printer or via Sony's online photo-processing service, ImageStation. This was set up for US-only customers when we reviewed the software. You can also e-mail photos directly from within the application.