Inexpensive DVD PixPlay Standard isn't always appealing to look at, but it sure is easy to use. DVD PixPlay walks you through the slide show creation process, allowing you to create and share a full-featured slide show in just five steps.

DVD Pix has a lot in common with rival Magix PhotoStory on CD & DVD. Both apps are designed to help you create slide shows that can be burned to a disc for offline sharing. And both suffer from a bland gray interface that relies on too-small text. DVD PixPlay's interface is slightly more attractive, and this app is even easier to use--if slightly more limited.

Once you launch DVD PixPlay, it holds your hand through the entire slide show creation process, which really does take just five steps. You select a location to look for photos, select the photos you'd like to add, decide if you'd like to look for more photos, select a slide show style, and then burn it to disc for sharing. That's it.

Even though the slide show creation process is simple, DVD PixPlay actually offers a decent amount of control over the look of the finished project--and it does so without overwhelming you with choices. You can edit the title page and add clip art to it, if you'd like. It's also very easy to reorder slide shows or to edit them as you work. What you won't find are many advanced editing tools for your photos, so you'll want to make sure they look their best before you begin creating the slide show.

For $20 more, the Pro version adds some handy features for business users. It lets you create slide shows from Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, as well as from CSV and Excel files. It also lets you output slide shows to prints as big as poster size, and allows you to display a company logo during a slide show.

Just like Magix PhotoStory, DVD PixPlay lets you share complete slide shows via e-mail or burn them to a disc for offline viewing. DVD PixPlay is the cheaper of the two apps--PhotoStory costs $20 more--and offers much of the same functionality. PhotoStory does let you enhance photos that you've added to a slide show, but if you can live without that feature, you'll find DVD PixPlay the better bargain.

--Liane Cassavoy