This is a redacted version of an update sent to Vivozoom contributors earlier this week:

Summary is:

• Pre-launch testing with launch in next few weeks if feedback is positive
• Moneybookers support
• Pricing announced

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xxxxxxxx, thanks for contributing your images. We�d like to bring you up-to-date on our plans and progress.

LAUNCH

We are presently in a closed-user group test of the customer site and plan to launch the site within the next few weeks

LAUNCH PRICING

Our subscription packages range from single-seat $279 (USD) for 30 days at 15 images per day through $5,999 (USD) for 12-month 25 images per day on a 5-seat license.

Our VivoFlex Option offers our clients the ability to purchase images that can be dowloaded any time over a 12 month period.  Prices range from $149 for 25 hi-res images including vectors through $49 for 12 web-res  images.

We are also offering Enhanced Licenses at a flat $45 to our clients.

PAYOUT

We have now added Moneybookers as an optional payout mechanism in addition to Bank Transfer and Paypal. Payout threshold is the same as Paypal at $50 USD. If you wish to switch to Moneybookers, go to your Account Page in the Dashboard and select 'Moneybookers' for the Payout Method.

RELEASE ATTACH

We received a lot of robust feedback on this! We have recently updated the Release Attach functionality. You can now specify that a release can be attached to just one image, all images on a page or all images in your MANAGE queue. We hope this helps.

CLIENT SITE PREVIEW

We'd like you to take a look at the site before we launch. It's password protected, but for the next few days, you can review it at www.vivozoom.com <http://www.vivozoom.com/>  with the following credentials:

    user: xxxxxxxx

    pass: xxxxxxxx


Note: If you have approved images on the site, your portfolio can be seen at:

    http://www.vivozoom.com/viewportfolio-xxxxxxxx

We provide a  multiple-image-download facility. A client can download (for example) a complete lightbox as long as the subscription quota is available. If the downloads would exceed daily quota, clients can purchase "top-ups" that are valid for 24 hours. Customer feedback on this feature has been universally positive.

We've also taken steps to ensure that we maximize your images' potential. All embedded color profiles of images for web-display have been converted to JPEG working space for browser display. To see this in action, take a look at the following image previews:








Our version is a more accurate rendition of the original hi-resolution image with its color profile applied.

WE WANT YOUR IMAGES!

Any images uploaded in the next week should hit the site before we launch. Remember, there are no upload limits on our FTP server, so please continue to submit images and you'll ensure vivozoom is the premier Microstock site for professional image buyers.

Any questions, please email or call our creative director, Stacey Goldberg creative <at> vivozoom <dot> com or call 1 800-476-3899.

Regards,

Lawrence and Tom

RECENT QUOTES FROM ALPHA CLIENTS: (unedited)

"Warranty very important and stands out from the competition" - Major UK Publisher

"Photographs more professional thank istock and Shutterstock"  - Large US Educational Publisher

"Multiple downloads excellent � Not on any other Microstock site" - Educational Publisher

"There's really nice photos on the website and refreshing to see something different. I'm sure a lot of us have Photodisc pictures memorized by now (!)" - Large Chicago-based publisher

"Great presentation, layout and speed.."  - Major Contract Publisher (Customer Magazines & Online Branding)

Now that we've had an invitation to check out the client side interface and make suggestions, I would hope that there is still ongoing development of the keywording/search engine precision - and/or some serious editing of irrelevant keywords in the collection's images.  I'm no perfectionist or saint when it comes to keywording but I try to put only appropriate keywords with my images.  Sometimes there's the accidental inclusion of a keyword especially with groups of pictures from the same shoot.

But what really concerns me is that some photos from a well-known and talented photographer that are at best only tangentially related to a keyword search phrase I tested ("fitness woman") show up prominently on the first page of results from that search.  Of course the same happens on many other sites but this would definitely make me think "here we go again" if I were a photo buyer.

I know this is a difficult problem to deal with but I hope Vivozoom can set itself further apart from many of the other sites by offering a more accurate keyword search.

I do like the look of the client page and the display of the images - it's an attractive presentation and I like the effort to display images with accurate color.