Album Review: United States Albums

Hi baker,
I tried to send you a PM, but you have the ability to receive PM's disabled.

As an alternative to Scribus, unless you are already familiar with Scribus, you might want to give AlbumEasy, which is also free, a try.
I know of many AlbumEasy users that have tried both AlbumEasy and Scribus (with and without the PMGS script), that find the former a far less cumbersome way of creating albums.
On the other hand, to be honest, a fair number of people do not like AlbumEasy at all

Anyway, to help you make up your own mind you might want to spend a few minutes watching the introductory video/ tutorial to see if it is for you:



Clive

Yes, I kinda thought the same...

Thank you Clive,



Yes, I think it's because I am very new to the forum. I'm just getting back into collecting after a long hiatus, but even settling on an album, I anticipated that some customization would be needed. Just the nature of the beast I guess. I will look at AlbumEasy. I am completely new to Scribus.

baker,
As a new member, you cannot send messages, but you should be able to receive them.

If you look at the top of this page, you should see a button bar, with the second button labelled "Tools". Click on the "Tools" button, then on "Manage your profile".
After entering your login information you will be able to edit your profile. Look for the drop-down labelled "Allow Forum Members
to Send you E-Mail?" and make sure that it is set to yes.
Then press "submit"
Hopefully, that will allow forum members to contact you directly.
Clive

Hi Clive,

Cheers! I fixed that!

New members 50 posts required to use the email system. Security and getting to know you and you ....

I made the double border by hand. You should be able to download any of my pages and just cut and paste out of the master page.

I have a blank Scribus file with just the border in the master pages (left and right) and load a copy of that and run the script and then do a "Save As" from there.

AlbumEasy is indeed a great tool. The only reason I am not using it is because it doesn't handle free-form descriptions under the stamps well. So, I need Scribus for that. And I didn't want to use 2 different tools.

If someone has a Mystic template for AlbumEasy, I would love to check it out.

I tried to do something with LaTeX a while back. I got halfway there and then I gave up.

Thanks! I will try it.


Seems like the descriptions problem would be kind of a deal-breaker. I still want to check it out.

Ok, does anyone use the Minkus All-American album? If so, could you post a review?

Like many here, I came back to collecting thanks to Covid. This thread reviewing US albums has been great. I think I have something new to contribute here (hard to believe). But first some background.

I bought my Scott National album in 1970 (cost $16), so I am pretty attached to it. But like others, I dislike the two-post binders, esp as pages don't lay flat.

Recently I bought at auction two Lighthouse albums, hingeless, with stamps. The multi-ring binders with their lay flat pages are great. But albums lacked many pages (no revenues, for example), and the lack of Scott numbers was a problem. Also the printed images in each space are pretty primitive.

So I write you all to see if anyone has managed to combine the best of both types. Specifically, does anyone make mylar strips (say one inch wide) with an adhesive back along one edge and holes for a multi-ring binder on the other edge? You could take the National pages, put one of these adapter strips on the left edge, and put it in any suitable binder.

I found in eBay a very similar product -- but for standard three ring binder. See this link

This kind of adaptation would allow me to keep my National pages in my new/used Lighthouse binders -- the fit for page size looks about right. All thoughts welcome!

OOOPS - the link did not work. Look on Amazon.com (not eBay) for this product:

C-Line Self-Adhesive Attaching Strips, 3 hole punched. Cost is 21 bucks for 200. Not cheap, but far cheaper than buying a whole new album

The problem is that Lighthouse, like many other album manufacturers, make albums with unusual ring systems individual to them (thirteen in their case), so I'm afraid the chance if finding a ready-made product of the kind you describe is low.

You could place the Scott leaves in Lighthouse sheet protectors (see page 68 below), but that would be an expensive and far from ideal solution.

https://www.michaelkay.co.uk/brochu...brochure.pdf

Scott makes a binder for the National Album as a three ring binder. I have punched older national pages to go it with no problem.

I prefer the style with the metal hinges, as they last better thought repeated use.

Agree with Alub. Wizard has large three ring National binders for $50 with free shipping.