We do create some photo books for each major trip. Since we live close, we kida go too often
My favorite thing to do with my shots is my photo screensaver on my computer though! It brings back so many memories seeing random shots pop up every five seconds.
I do the photo screensaver on my PC, too. The problem is that it's so hard to find a decent one that works well with multiple monitors... but it's nice having them on my work PC, and it can occasionally lead to conversation with passersby.
My backup strategy is as follows.
Import pics from memory card via LR3 to laptop. On a monthly basis I backup the month to a DVD (yes I know they are not as reliable as CDRs) and move the images from the laptop to an external drive I use for my quick access photo archive. All images are avaliable via the LR3 catalog.
It is not the most ideal backup strategy, but it is the one I use. Which is the key. Develop a plan an follow it.
As for printing... DW will sit down and pick out ones she wants to print to go into photo albums.
I would not agree with the CDR vs DVDR thing. There's around 15 year's worth of advancement in technology between the two. Blurays are supposed to be even tougher while storing more data than seven DVDs. (Talking about single-layer here - dual-layer is even more of a difference.) I've burnt thousands of CDs and DVDs and I can't remember a DVD-R going bad. CDs going bad have been pretty rare but there have been a few. They are all certainly vastly more reliable than a hard drive, especially your basic consumer-grade one. I'll probably hop on the Bluray burner bandwagon pretty soon since burners are now pretty cheap (<$100) and the media can be had for about the same price per meg as DVDs.
I also buy the spindles, but only brand name. Some computer stores sell no name generics or thier own store brand. I had a spindle of CompUSA CDRs back in the late 90's and they no longer work.
I know things have come a long way, but the couple dollars saved is not worth it in the long run if the discs are poorly constructed.
The problem is that even the big-name ones are often just rebrands. You need a program like ImgBurn to see the actual manufacturer of the disc - you can do this with any CD-R/DVD-R. I usually buy Ritek spindles, the manufacturer is "RITEKF1" on the DVD-R I have in my burner right now. A quick check of a couple others finds a Philips CD-R being made by CMC Magnetics (who also make discs for everyone from no-names to Verbatim, Memorex, TDK, HP, etc), a Memorex and a Fujifilm made by Ritek, etc... some do make their own (a Sony I checked was actually made by Sony) but many are just rebrands and you're just paying for the name. One of the manufacturers most revered amongst the hardcore is Taiyo Yuden, who are virtually unknown to the average consumer.
I don't remember where I saw it, but there was someone that extensively tested the Sharpie thing and it turned out to be just an urban legend and caused no damage to the disk whatsoever. It might have been Myth Busters, but I cannot remember.
I hadn't even heard of that rumors before, but it sounds pretty silly!
To the original question... I do screensavers on my PCs, put them on my website, and now put them on Flickr also. I don't print much but my wife did make me a photobook for Christmas and suggested that we do that more often.
I also often copy photos to my Playstation 3, which has a great interface for viewing photos. It's best done with the actual game controller, which allows you quick access to zooming and scrolling around the image by using the analog sticks. If you copy the photos to the internal drive, flipping between 1920x1080 resolution photos is basically instant. (I swapped in a 500g drive into mine - a trivial task and very cheap to boot, I highly recommend it - so I have plenty of space for photos without getting in the way of the games.) This is the modern equivalent of the old slideshows - the ones with
real slides. I remember my grandfather boring us young kids to tears with vacation photos, and now I can bore my family and other visitors with my photos.
(To be fair to my grandfather, I have a much greater appreciation for his slideshows, and am happy that I have access to them and am slowly scanning them all in.)
That's what I've been using. Haven't had too many problems with them--yet. I'm assuming you're using those that come in their individual jewel cases?
