Photo management software that's not software?

[iamgregor]

I realize this is goofy, but bear with me.

I have a gallery of over 7000 photos. Some are daytime, some are night, some are different places, some have different subjects in them. I can't categorize them by folder alone since they have many different attributes. It would be best if I could tag them like is done on Flickr, but I don't want to use any online solution and I'd prefer to avoid special software too.

Is there a way to tag the photos themselves maybe through EXIF or other meta-data? If I were to use software, all I would want is something that makes it easy to tag and manage photos without me getting stuck with something proprietary. If all the tags are in the photo itself, I can use any software I want down the road.

Does this question make sense and is there such a thing? If Windows 7 has this built in somehow, that would even be better.

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[KmH]

The question makes sense.

Do you have any image editing software?

My first thought would be a free application like Picasa.

[iamgregor]

The question makes sense.

Do you have any image editing software?

My first thought would be a free application like Picasa.

Yeah, I've used Ulead Photoimpact for about 10 years. I've got image manipulation pretty much covered unless I make the switch to Photoshop someday.

It's management that's a problem. Ulead has a photo album, but it seems pretty proprietary. If the data attributes for the files are in a database or custom information system, that won't work when I go to a different program (hence, not what I want)

[Rocky8]

Photo Mechanic Welcome to Camera Bits, Inc.

[KmH]

The question makes sense.

Do you have any image editing software?

My first thought would be a free application like Picasa.

Yeah, I've used Ulead Photoimpact for about 10 years. I've got image manipulation pretty much covered unless I make the switch to Photoshop someday.

It's management that's a problem. Ulead has a photo album, but it seems pretty proprietary. If the data attributes for the files are in a database or custom information system, that won't work when I go to a different program (hence, not what I want)

Ah. More recent image editors have image management apps.