iPhoto – “Buy Book”

I ran into a funny/annoying thing last night while trying to buy a book I created in iPhoto. After you go through all the time to setup and layout a book in Apple iPhoto you just have this big fat juicy button that says “Buy Book” that you have to press. That was what I was thinking. I’m sure you would think the same thing.

The first screen you are confronted with looks like a checkout but the only interaction you can make is to “Set up Account” or “Cancel”. If you already have an Apple account this may be confusing. The text that comes with the screen does nothing to help.

“To order prints, you need an Apple account with 1-Click ordering enabled. If you don’t have an Apple account, you can create one in just a few minutes by clicking ‘Set up account’. “

The key thing to remember from this paragraph is “1-CLICK ORDERING ENABLED”, but either way the only key choice is “Set up Account”.

Once you hit “Set up Account” you will notice that it is actually a login button. aaahhaaaa! Now we’re getting somewhere. So you put in your trusty Apple account info and away you go. But not so fast, suddenly you get a screen that nakes you think there is network connection problem.

The key to this message and your problem is the above mentioned “1-CLICK ORDERING ENABLED”.

• Go to Apple’s website
• Login
• Change your 1-CLICK preference to the “ON” position
• You are Finished

There is no hint of the problem from the Error message and there is no way to fix the problem from the iPhoto application itself. As I worked and troubled over this strange process Alanna (ex-Apple employee) came in to tell me that the monkeys inside the computer were laughing at me. [Insert Chimp noises here]