Screenshot of Media Pro 1 running on Mac OS X |
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| Original author(s) | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Phase One |
| Stable release | 1.1[1] / October 25, 2011[2] |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X |
| Type | Image organizer and digital asset management |
| License | Shareware |
| Website | www.phaseone.com/en/Software/Media-Pro/ |
Phase One Media Pro (formerly Microsoft Expression Media) is a commercial digital asset management cataloging program for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. It is the next version of iView MediaPro which Microsoft acquired in June 2006, and sold again in May 2010 to Phase One in Denmark. The software is aimed at professionals and photo enthusiasts who need a photo manager that makes it easier to manage photo and video assets. Especially very large high quality image files and libraries.
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Media Pro makes it possible to catalog and sort images and other media files. The user is able to organize and categorize without being limited to assets' actual folder locations, add metadata including IPTC annotations, and locate assets which may spread over multiple folder and drive locations, including offline discs. As well as cataloging, Media Pro can print (into formats like contact sheets and lists), build web galleries, convert to other formats and build slideshows.[3]
Media Pro supports photo and video files from more than 100 different cameras and is built to manage large photo libraries (especially very large raw, tiff and jpeg files). It is also capable of handling audio, DTP, font, text and HTML files.[4]
Although Media Pro is primarily used to catalog photographic images, it is capable of indexing and converting many additional classes of files. This includes the most popular formats of audio and video files, which can be organized, played in the catalog itself, and converted to derivative file types. This capability makes Media Pro useful for photographers and other media professionals who need to create, manage and make use of different media types.
The original predecessor of Phase One Media Pro are iView Media Pro 3 from iView Multimedia and Microsoft Expression Media from Microsoft. On 27 June 2007, Microsoft acquired iView Multimedia.[5] Eventually, Microsoft released Microsoft Expression Media, which replaced iView Media Pro 3.[6]
Microsoft Expression Media was released to manufacturing along with other Expression products on 30 April 2007. The RTM news was announced at Microsoft's MIX 07 conference for web developers and designers.[7] In September 2007, Microsoft released Expression Media Service Pack 1 for Windows and Mac which adds support for HD Photo.[8] Expression Media 2 was released in May 2008 as part of Expression Studio 2. Expression Media 2 Service Pack 1 was released in October 2008.[9] The latest version is Expression Media 2 Service Pack 2, which requires SP1 to be installed.[10]
Expression Media however, did not last. On 23 July 2009, Expression Studio 3 was released, but left out Expression Media.[11] On 25 May 2010 Expression Media 2 was acquired by Phase One A/S.[12]
On May 2010 Phase One acquired Microsoft Expression Media from Microsoft.[13] Media Pro was released in September 2011 and features support for larger catalogs, compatibility between Media Pro and Capture One, an updated user interface, support for XMP sidecar metadata exchange as well as support for photo and video files from the latest cameras.[14][15]