Australian Mac users have long complained of the absence of the iPhoto printing service offered by Apple in the US and other countries, but it's finally arrived.

If you're using iPhoto 7 (part of iLife 08) you'll be able to choose from the largest range of book types and layouts, along with calendars, greeting cards, postcards and ordinary prints (from 2.5x2.5in up to 16x20in). Those still on older versions will find the choice more restricted.

The price for a 6x4in print is 29c (excluding delivery). You can easily pay more at the local minilab, or less if you drop the media off at the chemist or supermarket.

Softcover photo books start at $26.99 for 8.5x11in. Again, you can pay a lot more or substantially less elsewhere, but as far as I know there's nowhere else you can go that equals or betters Apple's price while providing the convenience of producing the book within iPhoto.

But price isn't everything, especially when it comes to photography, so I'd be inclined to place a small trial order with any online service before committing to a relatively expensive order - unless a friend could show me a job they'd had done by the same operator.

Photo books strike me as a great idea. The uptake of digital photography means relatively few shots are ever printed and the rest stay locked away on disk. Digital photo frames are getting cheaper, but they generally mean having another 'wall wart' burning power 24 hours a day.

Photo books make great gifts for family members, especially grandparents and any other close relatives that are geographically remote. They also make nice keepsakes of special events or holidays. If you're into scrapbooking, you probably enjoy the process of arranging a physical album, but many of us find it a chore and end up with shoeboxes of unsorted photos or multi-gigabyes of digital images that never get looked at.

Using iPhoto to create a book from the best shots is a much more convenient process.