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[Katrina van Oudheusden Company: Reliv International Contribution Level: 3]

So I believe I was cruising through the forums and even I was looking for free/cheap ways to put video together.
So far in my very short...one day... use of animoto.com..... I like.
I just don't know how to upload music yet. Their selection is a bit, shall we say... weird?

But if you want it for free it is short 30 second video you can put together. If you want the middle range and a little more control $30 for the year is a good deal. I am not totally sure what the limitations are but... maybe one of you know.

Katrina van Oudheusden

[Erica Jones Company: Talk Fusion Global Contribution Level: 3]

Hey Katrina
I have used Animoto before and love the site when it comes to making videos for my social networking profiles. They are fantastic for that. Showing off pictures and lifestyle stuff- doesn't get any easier.

Adding your own music is dead simple.
First add your pictures and video on the first step.
Rearrange them, add the text you want to put in and then move to the next step.
There you will see a button that says upload music or use their library.
You will have to click a little confirm button about copy write legalities. Then click the upload. Find the file on your computer and then it will load just like your pictures did. You will have to give it a name and put in the artist for the song.
After it saves you can choose when you want the music to start (beginning, middle end of song- comes in handy if you only want the middle of the music in the video) and then hit the next button.
Now you need to choose an image to be the cover page for the video and choose the speed of the images. You can only do this if you have an upgraded account.
Then hit next.
It will start to make your movie.
When it is finished they will email you the link to check it out or you can stay on that page and it will display as soon as it is done. Then you can either share it, download it (if you have an upgraded account) or if you don't like it, edit it and do another. You can even do another without any edits. It will create a whole new video with new transitions for you with the exact same images, music, text, videos, etc.

Upgrading your account gives you a whole lot more options and 30 seconds is really not enough time for a video to say something. Animoto is a fun tool to use.

Hope that helps you get more out of the site.
Cheers
Erica

[Katrina van Oudheusden Company: Reliv International Contribution Level: 3]

You will have to click a little confirm button about copy write legalities. Then click the upload. Find the file on your computer and then it will load just like your pictures did. You will have to give it a name and put in the artist for the song. Erica

Can you upload music from your itunes?

And Dean- thank you for the Viddler web address. I will have to check that one out also.

[Erica Jones Company: Talk Fusion Global Contribution Level: 3]

you might have to change the format over first. I can't remember what file types they accept at animoto. If you have to switch the file type you can do that easily as long as it's music you haven't purchased from itunes... they don't let you edit the music in anyway (from my experience)

I work on a mac so this might be different in a pc-

click on the song you want to change
click the advanced link in your top bar- from the drop down click the convert to ...
Whatever file type you want.

Now, if the file type that is shown is not the one you want you will have to go into your settings area and fix something else.
Itunes- general options- import settings- import using (then choose your file type)
Now you can go back and convert the song over.

You will have 2 versions in your itunes library so just choose the right one and upload it.

Watch copywrite laws when it comes to the music. Youtube and animoto keep an eye on that sort of stuff.

Hope that helps
Erica

[Katrina van Oudheusden Company: Reliv International Contribution Level: 3]

Thank you Erica for your help. Appreciate it.
Katrina

[Erica Jones Company: Talk Fusion Global Contribution Level: 3]

anytime Katrina! Send me the link to check out your video when you're done with it. I love to see other people's pics and what Animoto can do with them. Have fun!

[Hani Mourra Contribution Level: 2]

Hi Katrina,

In order for you to load the music from iTunes to Animoto, you need to export it into MP3 format. Here is a link that explains how to do that:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_e ... tunes.html

You might also want to look into another free fancy photo slideshow service called: OneTrueMedia.com

Hani

[Darrin K Contribution Level: 2]

I really like animoto. I've turned a lot of local business owners onto it when creating videos for their businesses. It's great for adding to youtube and also onto your GMaps business listing.