In this version ProStockMaster starts working with CanStockPhoto via our proprietary PSM API. Thus, from now on you will be able to track your sales and download stats on per-image base for any image uploaded to CSP with PSM.
All the data is transferred over HTTPS, which significantly improves the communication security.

Many thanks to Duncan Enman, CEO of CanStockPhoto and his great team for making this possible.

In this release:

• iStock login fixed again.
• Statistics for 123rf & Fotolia fixed. Note that 123rf stats show up quite slow due to their server speed.
• Fixed: “99% upload – read timeout” error while uploading large files to Panthermedia.
• Removed some internal limitations from the free version.
• Mac: system / hidden folders will not show up in the file tree.
• Mac: some customers reported they could not run PSM 1.7 on their Macs, typically Leopard & Snow Leopard OS. This was caused by improper application packaging for Mac. Get v1.7.1 - it should run OK now.
• Linux releases & Linux support is discontinued from this release on. We prefer to focus on Mac and Win OS only.
• Shutterstock & Dreamstime FTP uploads: large / long batches interrupts fixed

I am happy to announce the release of new PSM v1.7.0!
In this version:

1.New stock agency added! Integrated upload, total stats and per-image statuses, downloads and earnings info for our new stock agency Pixamba. Expand your sales now!

2.iStock login fixed [again] due to further changes on their web.

3.Various EXIF interpretation fixes, ISO speed is now showing correctly in EXIF tab

It seems that once a three year we create the next thing, helping you to get some more sales online

Visit Pixamba web site and take a look what we did this time.
Build on an advanced cloud computing infrastructure, Pixamba is probably the world-fastest online stock photography agency today. Utilizing our technological advantage, we plan to add more features and media services soon.

We start with 255,000 midstock collection and we welcome microstock contributors.
At the moment the business model is credit-based and your commissions are $0.40/credit for any non-exclusive submission, which is effectively 40%-53% (depending on the credits package price) of the sale price.

Register now, take a tour and tell us what you think and how we can make things better and more convenient for you.

Did you know that if you do not work with Shutterstock in PSM you can use "Shutterstock FTP" credentials uploading to any FTP-enabled agency? Just keep in mind that what is shown as "Shutterstock" in PSM is in fact your trusted "ABC-stock" agency.

How to do that: go to "Upload->Stock Agencies->Shutterstock" and replace Shutterstock FTP server name with the name of the FTP server for "ABC-stock", adding your FTP credentials for "ABC-stock".

From now on, each time you upload to "Shutterstock" the file actually goes to "ABC-stock". Since Shutterstock keeps blocking their submitters login with the image captcha you can't see your Shutterstock stats in PSM anyway, so it can be used as a placeholder for any other FTP-enabled agency you prefer to work with.

We just have released a small and nice command line Java-based utility that can dump all your JPG IPTC metadata to a CSV file. It runs recursively for all the subfolders, collecting all JPGs there and writing their metadata in a CSV file.

The output looks this way

This JPG IPTC metadata to CSV utility is free to download and is free to use with no limitations. It is delivered to you as a part of ProStockMaster software according to PSM EULA. This utility requires an installed PSM v1.6.2 or later, with either free or commercial license. Free PSM installation is available here. The utility also requires pre-installed Java 5 or later. (Get latest Java here)

You can download the utility JAR file here

Windows Installation & Run
Installation
Put psm_metadump.jar file in the lib folder in ProStockMaster installation directory (Typically, "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster")
The full path to JAR should be like "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster\lib\psm_metadump.jar"

Running
It's a command line tool, so you open a cmd window, then type in:
cd prostockmaster-installation-directory
(i.e. typically you type: cd "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster")

Next, run:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar root-folder-for-your-JPGs

Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar D:\\usr\\david\\img\\20D\\edited_full_size_jpg\\stock

Note that you have either to duplicate back slashes in the folder path, making \\ instead of \
or replace each \ by / (replace the backslash by the slash)

The utility produces a CSV file "psm_metadump.csv" in the current directory, i.e. in that "C:\Program Files\ProStockMaster" where you run it in the cmd window.
NOTE: the output file is overwritten each time!

Mac Installation & Run

Installation
CTRL+click on PSM 'java-cup' icon, whenever you have it installed, select Open Folder and put the downloaded psm_metadump.jar file in "Contents/Resources/Java/lib" folder. You should see all the rest of .jar files there, if they are not there you went to the wrong place.

Run
Open Terminal window and type in
cd psm-installation--folder/ProStockMaster.app/Contents/Resources/Java
where psm-installation--folder is where you put PSM (e.g. your Desktop folder path)

Next, run:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar root-folder-for-your-JPGs

Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/Desktop/images/stock

The utility produces a CSV file "psm_metadump.csv" in the current directory, i.e. in that "psm-installation--folder/ProStockMaster.app/Contents/Resources/Java where you run it in the Terminal window.
NOTE: the output file is overwritten each time!

More configurable params (all platforms)
1. You can specify different output file path by providing the second argument in the command line:
Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/img/stock /temp/metadata.csv
in this case the output file will be "/temp/metadata.csv" (note again the double-backslashes)

2. You can replace the default columns delimiter ";" (semicolon) by any char you want, providing the third argument to the command line:
Example:
java -jar lib/psm_metadump.jar /usr/david/img/20D/edited_full_size_jpg/stock /temp/metadata.csv #
- here symbol "#" will be inserted as the columns delimiter in the output file. Make sure that your reading software can understand such CSV though.

Using "," (comma) as a columns delimiter is NOT recommended since this is the default keywords delimiter. Do not use comma until you want each keyword to be inserted in its own column (and I have no idea why you might want that)

3. When openning the CSV file make sure you have checked 'semicolon' and unchecked 'comma' check buttons in the export wizard:

We have just released a new Windows package with no embedded Java.
It is a much smaller download - just about 6 MB instead of 19 MB, and it works with your pre-installed Java.

You must have an installed Java on your machine in order to run PSM with this installation! If you are not sure if you got any Java, go to Windows "Start" menu, select "Run" and type in "cmd".
A DOS-style shell window opens. Type in

java -version

on the command prompt. If you get something like this

java version "1.6.0_12"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_12-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.2-b01, mixed mode, sharing)

it means that you have some Java installed. It is highly recommended to upgrade your Java to the latest version using MS Windows Control Panel prior to starting the application. The minimum required JVM version is 1.5.12.

Since modern Java 6 on Windows is faster than the previous JVM version we bundle with PSM, with the new packaging and with the latest JVM ProStockMaster will run faster! Also, many GUI-related issues are fixed in Java 6, so various skins work faster and behave more stable in JVM 6.

The new PSM packaging also fixes some weird but relatively rare problems with Windows Vista 32-bit/64-bit pre-installed JVMs. If PSM refuses to start on your Windows machine with the bundled Java try this 'unbundled' installation package.

Note that ProStockMaster version did not change. It is the same v1.6.0 we have released last month.

If you wish to 'upgrade' your existing 1.6 installation with the new packaging, taking the advantage of faster PSM with your latest JVM just get the the setup file and install PSM in the same folder where the previous version resides.

Actually, it's a 'back to future' packaging since we have started the distribution this way. Then we switched to bundled JVM to avoid support issues related to improper Java installations and JVM functioning. Now we came back to that, bring you now both the 'bundled' and the 'unbundled' packages, so you can choose the package that works better for you.

Installation packages: Worldwide | North America

Yes, I know, I know. You want more storefronts to sell your images. The more agencies sell your images the bigger revenues you get. We learned that very well and we are completely agree.
Every time we talk to our customers they emphasize they would love to expand their sales network.
We hear it so often that we even put this question in our FAQ
And we always answered you that we are going to introduce a new exciting partner soon, right?

So here are you go: showtime!

Please meet PantherMedia, a midstock/microstock agency located in Munich, Germany. PantherMedia has been around since 2004, when the two founders and current owners Petter Ammel and Robert Walters established PantherMedia GmbH. Being the first agency to offer midstock images, PantherMedia went international in 2008 and is represented by international partners active in more than 40 countries.

Initially my attention to PantherMedia was drawn a few months ago by a stock photography expert Andy Goetze, who runs Stockphototalk blog. Later on, working with PantherMedia on various technical and business issues I was absolutely charmed by people who run this venture.

So, while writing this post, it was very easy to me to figure out a few reasons why you will love submitting your images to Panthermedia.net

First, because PantherMedia can sell your work as a midstock for prices $50 and more! Take a look at their prices: for instance, if you sell an image with a merchandise license, it can go at EURO 449.90!
And here comes the second reason - you keep up to 60% of that! The "up to" part of your commission depends on the license and exclusivity you choose, but if you go for it - you get your 60%, absolutely. Remember, this 60% are out of a midstock $50+ price!

The third reason why you should register with PantherMedia right away is that ProStockMaster is now tightly integrated with PantherMedia.net and you get your per-image stats directly at your desktop.
Yes, we all know that ProStockMaster was designed for that from the very beginning.
No, we never actually implemented that since we wanted to do it right. Now with PantherMedia.net working with ProStockMaster API we finally do it in the right way, thus completely automating per-image statistics collection for any image you ever submit to PantherMedia. And we plan these services to be extended as we go, so working with PantherMedia you get even better and fine-tuned control on your submissions, earnings and stats.

Still not convinced that you should sign up with PantherMedia? Com'on! And how about 33% off for ProStockMaster PRO license once you sign up there?
Typically, we do not offer discounts, even for the Christmas period. You probably noticed that we never did it in the past. However, we believe that PantherMedia and their customers is a very special case and we are happy to offer them a $59⁹⁹ ProStockMaster PRO licenses, 33% off our $89⁹⁹ list price. Register with PantherMedia and find out there a PayPal button for PSM PRO license with just $59⁹⁹ price tag (you get 33% off).

And here is the last but not the least reason why you should select PantherMedia in the list of agencies where you contribute your images.
These guys are really care about their photographers and their community. Yes, they really do. Try them out - it's free (the fifth reason to join you say? ) - and you will see that you enjoy your stay there.

Some more info:
Special offer by PantherMedia for ProStockMaster customers - win a Canon camera!
Newsletter by PantherMedia with our co-operation announcement

Disclaimer:
No I do not work for PantherMedia neither I ever did. I was not payed to write this post. And if you buy a license through PantherMedia site for just $59⁹⁹ instead of $89⁹⁹, I am loosing money...

We have added Live Chat with our online technical support to our web. From now on you can get instant answers to any question you may have. Look for the "Live Chat" logo at the top of the page.

We believe that the new service will help us to improve the communication with our customers, opening a new fast direct communication channel.

We have started our advertising program which offers prices as low as $25 per month for an ad slot on our web. With more than 800 unique visitors a day prostockmaster.com is probably an ideal place for a stock photography related advertising.

More details...

As a part of our continuous improvement program, we plan to transfer prostockmaster.com to another hosting provider which should allow us to provide the site visitors with the better service and with the new attractive site features. At the moment we are testing the new hosting, checking out its capabilities and features.

While we will try to transfer the web site as smooth as we can, we still should expect a short down time during the transfer.
My guess is that it will last somewhere between a few hours and 1 day.
At that time the web services which ProStockMaster application uses will become unavailable, and first of all it affects the keywords suggestion service.

We are sorry in advance for any possible service interrupt and we look forward to deliver you even better web with more attractive services and interesting options. When we'll figure out the exact transfer date, we'll publish an additional announcement.

As a part of the latest site improvements we have added Wiki to our web site.
Meanwhile, there are just a few basic HOW-TO articles there, but we hope it will be more soon.

We introduce a new license type: the Basic License ($29.99) , which gives a buyer an unlimited set of features for 3 months. The Basic license can not be renewed / upgraded.

The license previously known as "Unlimited" is now called "Pro". Pro license has no expiration period.
The support and software upgrades services for Pro license can be renewed for $39.99 annually.
For more details please visit: http://www.prostockmaster.com/purchase.php

I am happy to say that we keep pioneering the stock photography software market by introducing ProStockMaster for Linux. Since the latest v1.5.1, the first in the world desktop software for a contributing stock photographer is available for the Linux photographers too!
Linux is now just another part in our standard delivery packages and the Linux binaries can be downloaded at our download page - along with Windows and Mac installation packages.

We extend Fotolia statistics support in v1.5.1, including now the statistics for all international customers that use local Fotolia sites in their languages, like es.fotolia.com, de.fotolia.com or fr.fotolia.com.

Additionally, Fotolia statistics in ProStockMaster will show now the number of the current month downloads and the monthly earnings.

We've got a few recent complaints regarding v1.5 Look and Feel. Many people love it, however for some of our customers dark background and light fonts are almost unreadable. So this is what we do: among other new features, v1.5.1 (which is coming very soon) introduces 20+ new GUI skins, including native Mac and Windows Java L&F.

Today we have switched on the auto-upgrade flag on our web.
So if you wondered how you can upgrade to the latest and coolest v1.5, just run your previous version of ProStockMaster and it will do all the required updates automatically. When the upgrade finished, restart the application to run PSM with all the latest binaries. Simple like that.

This auto-upgrade procedure, like the entire idea behind ProStockMaster is all about the simplicity, usability and saving your time. Well, I forgot - PSM is about the innovation too. We were the first desktop software on stock photo market and we will continue pioneering and leading the stock photography desktop software market by the great technology and continued innovation. You can see an impressive set of the new features in v1.5 and you will see much more new stuff in the upcoming versions of ProStockMaster.

Just a side note: ProStockMaster v1.5 is the first in the world software which implements our "intelligent multi-threading" technology which we have developed for a graphic-intensive pure-Java applications. So if you got a modern multi-CPU computer hardware (e.g. Intel Core Duo / Duo 2, Intel Quad, multi-CPU AMD or similar) you can benefit from the unleashed power of ProStockMaster capable of doing many things simultaneously. You keep asking us for a Rolls-Royce for your stock photography needs and we are happy to deliver it to the market, at very affordable price.

As I promised you 2 years ago, we are committed to the same licensing policy: there is a free license for up to 5 uploads daily (some additional minor limitations can apply) and there is a commercially available unlimited license. Both licenses grant you free upgrade and email-based technical support for one year.
Let me say that again, a bit differently: the customers who run PSM with the free license are eligible for our technical support too, during the first year. So do not hesitate asking your questions, we are here to help you.

I already told you in this post that the price will change and here are we go. After 2 years keeping the same $49 price with the rapidly changing market situation and because we truly believe that we have delivered you an exceptional piece of unique software which saves hours of your valued work time and pays you back every cent which you've invested in the license, we are raising the v1.5 price to $89.99.
We will consider special discounts for the people who actively promote ProStockMaster. If you believe that you are eligible for a special discount please contact us describing your business and we'll consider your offer.

All our valued customers who already own unlimited license will enjoy the free upgrade to v1.5. It includes also all the customers who purchased ProStockMaster more then 12 months ago. Consider the latest as our sign of the appreciation and the recognition for ProStockMaster early adapters and our passionate long-time supporters.

If you are interested in re-selling ProStockMaster as an individual or SOHO you are very welcome to register in our affiliate program. Additionally, we are very interested in co-operation with established businesses active in photography and, specifically, with businesses active on the stock photography market. So if you run a reseller business, an Internet shop or a photography portal please fill in our web contact form and hopefully we will do some business together.

So far so good, and the Beta for v1.5 is almost finished.
Here are the release notes for version 1.5.0: http://www.prostockmaster.com/release_notes.php
Take a look, it might be interesting.
I know that the Release Notes are very brief and I am quite sure they can not be used as a user guide.
And our web site still talks about the old version - too bad, we have change it ASAP.

C'est la vie, as usual software development leads everything - we are a technology-driven company, are not we?
- and we go forward with an exceptional but completely undocumented software

Being a bit serious at the end of this short post, I just want to note that as I promised I am going to build a series of how-to's for v1.5 very soon. Hopefully, the first one will be ready this week yet.

Enjoy your reading!

So here is the trick that Terry pointed me out a few months ago and Jorgen confirmed the same issue for some more agencies:
IPTC keyphrases interpreting differs between various stock agencies.

It means that if you index your image with a keyphrase like blue water, it will be retrieved OK from IPTC data on e.g. iStockphoto, but will become two keywords blue and water on e.g. Shutterstock.
If you will try another trick by doble-qouting your keyphrase (note that PSM is a rare applications which allows you doing that without any problem) and your original keyphrase becomes to be "blue water", Shutterstock will show it correctly as a blue water keyphrase, but iStockphoto will not show it at all (BTW, why is that, dear colleagues from iStockphoto.com?)

Yesterday we have released v1.5 Beta for Mac OS X. Windows version has been released a few days ago and the feedback I receive is very complimentary meanwhile.

So far so good. It's the time to get more things done.
While we are collecting the feedback and fixing issues in v1.5 it is a good time to fill in another hole, starting the new project: explanations and documentation for v1.5.
As a beginning, I am thinking of making a few online "how-to" lessons that will be used later as a base for the online guide for PSM.

I believe that we have created a very powerful tool which can boost your revenues to another level while saving hours of your worktime working with multiple online stock agencies. However, all these is correct only if the photographer knows how to get the most out of our software.

I really want to show what you can do with PSM v1.5. In this blog the things will probably come in the "back" order, from the most complex stuff to the simplest things, just because I am very keen to show here the most interesting stuff first. We will put all the "how-to"-s in the right order on our web later on, taking the reader step-by-step from the simplest operations to the more complex stuff.