If you love creating personal scrapbook pages as a way to preserve fond memories and family history, digital scrapbooking may be your next hobby. Sure, digital cameras are great for viewing and e-mailing pictures without waiting, but can you truly create the same intimate heirlooms in a virtual album?

Well, digital scrapbooking is definitely a sign of our times, and some of the benefits can't be ignored. Who can say no to clearing out those cobweb-covered boxes of pictures and albums lurking in the corners, attics and closets of the world? Still, there are drawbacks as well. Here is a breakdown of some of the pros and cons of going digital with your scrapbook album.

Save the World!

OK, maybe you won't actually save the world, but there is an environmental bonus.

Online cropping uses no supplies other than your computer and any CDs you create. Surely this will save a few trees. Even the amount of materials used to create all those albums that take up space in your home is saved.

Of course, you're not likely to cuddle up in front of the computer to look through baby pictures. So you can have your online photos bound into a beautiful traditional album. These can run any where from $30.00 to $100.00 depending on the size of your album.

Ooops! No more

If you've ever ruined a special photo with a slip of the cutter you will be comforted to know that the Undo button applies to online cropping. Unlike the physical world, in the virtual one you can test out different shapes, tints and sizes on your pictures, with nothing to lose.

Whether you want to crop, rotate, enlarge, add borders or switch from color to black & white, doing it digitally is far easier and faster than the traditional way. You can even choose between font and labels without having to buy added stickers, stamps and stencils.

Share the Wealth

One of the best parts of digital scrapbooking is the ability to share it with Grandpa in Missouri, or Aunt Heidi in Montana. Making copies on CDs is a breeze as well. For anyone whose relatives don't live next door, the ability to instantly send pictures is a great way to keep in touch.

Downside to Digital?

Well, you do need a few tools for digital scrapbooking. The most basic requirements are a good computer and a camera. While you don't have to have a digital camera, you will also need a scanner for non-digital photos. Then you will need to purchase either a Layout Program, or a Photo Editing Program. The Photo Editing Programs tend to offer more options and capabilities, but are also more difficult to navigate. Of course, these costs have to be measured against those spent on cropping tools and supplies.

The other downside to digital seems to be a product of our technical age: the social aspect. Scrapbooking has become a social gathering event for many women. Many moms use it as an excuse to get out the house a night or two a month, there are scrapbooking meet-ups online where strangers bond and become friends over the hobby. Once you move your cropping to the computer in your office, that social aspect is gone.

Although, with the advances of technology, and the popularity of digital scrapbooking, I have to wonder how long it will be before scrapbookers are meeting up with their laptops, rather than a tote bag of cutting implements and photgraphs.