Once upon a time, photographs were stored in cardboard boxes on high closets shelves, under beds, and in attics. And it was bad. Sorting and storing pictures was time consuming and finding the picture you wanted was an exercise in frustration.

Then the digital era of photography dawned and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Yay! No more boxes!

Only instead of loose pictures floating around the house, jpegs ended up stuffed in various files all over the computer hard drive and finding the picture you were looking for was STILL a frustrating, time consuming job.

And then Photology was invented, and lo,it was good.

Photology is to digital photographs what the Dewey decimal system is to books, only way easier to use.

I'm not computery and have no idea how the thing works. My theory is that once Photology is downloaded (and that can take a while, but hang in there, it's worth it!) tiny elves with magnifying glasses look over each and every picture on the computer and sorts them in a myriad of ways: by the date, time of day, and year they were taken, content (faces, foliage, beach scenes, etc.), color, or location (inside or outside), and more.

If you need the picture of little Johnny at the parade last October where he was wearing the purple shirt, Photology will find it quicker than you can walk over to the hall closet and get the lid off the cardboard shoebox.

And the best thing is that Photology elves will work their same magic on external media like USB drive, USB flash drives, USB hard drives, CDs, etc. making it possible to find the photos you've safely stored in case of a hard drive crash. (Which you are ALL doing, right?! Storing your priceless memories outside the computer in case it crashes and burns, RIGHT?!)

The program also provides basic editing functions (cropping, red eye reduction, etc.), tagging, sorting into groups, the ability to share and to print photos. However, the biggest draw for me was the patient and helpful tutorials that walked this noncomputery nincompoop through every step. More things in life should come with tutorials!

The nice people of Photology are offering 50 ParentDish readers the opportunity to obtain a free copy of Photology for themselves. Here's what you need to do:

First make sure your system meets the minimum requirements:
-Windows XP SP2 or Vista
-512 MB RAM
-2 GHz processor
-500MB avail. hard disk space
-1024x768 screen resolution
-High color, 32-bit display

Next, go to http://promo.getphotology.com
-Fill in the form
-Confirm email
-Put in Promo code = E7AA42BF
-A license key will be emailed to the first 50 respondents.

If you miss out on the free promo, you can still sample Photology and let the elves sort your pictures for 14 days for free and see how you like Photology.

The program costs $39, but once you see how quickly those little buggers can find what you're searching for, you'll wish you could pay again and invite the Photology people over for dinner. During my free trial, I completed a last-minute-because-the-note-was-buried-in-the-bottom-of-the-backpack kindergarten photographic "All About Me" display board in less than ten minutes and my New Year's resolution will be to safely store and Photologicize all our digital pictures.

The program would make a great gift for anyone who takes digital pictures, but would be especially great to get the hard-to-buy for people on your list.

Photology(click thumbnails to view gallery)