Well, I finally decided to give Animoto a try.

Animoto.com is a web application that creates MTV-style videos with the click of a button.

Users simply choose a song and images. Animoto then automatically generates a unique video for them. No two videos are ever the same.

Many of the post-production techniques that the founders used while working as producers for MTV, Comedy Central & ABC are used in Animoto’s patent-pending Cinematic Artificial Intelligence developed to think like an actual editor and director. The resulting video is produced in a widescreen format, containing the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer.

Animoto Productions is based in New York City with an office in San Francisco.

Here’s my first trial run video using my BYOBW 2008 photo set on Flickr.

I’m digging it. I only wish the free account gives you more time. Maybe when they get their social network going, users can vote or give props to slideshows that have “potential” to be remixed even further due to the amount of images and/or how good their soundtrack is. But I’ll let Animoto decide on that algorithm. Another thing that would be cool is the idea of using tracks from Last.fm, Pandora, or ones like it. But I’m guessing Animoto would need ample time to analyze those tracks beforehand to inject into their magic factory.

Meanwhile, the service is priced well for Personal Use, $25-30/year… just like Flickr’s. Don’t know if this is a long shot or not, but maybe incorporate a deal with Flickr of getting a discounted membership. Anyways, I can see myself purchasing a membership for Animoto. I figure editing a 3-5 minute video, and queuing music at the same time, takes a lot of time and patience and is well worth the $25-30. That’s only about a week’s worth of Lee’s Avocado Turkey sandwiches that I can pass on—not bad at all.

[cb type=”company”]Animoto[/cb]