My personal favorite is Proshow Gold (or Proshow Professional) from
http://www.Photodex.com. It's basic interface gets you going quickly with
additional features that can produce very sophisticated shows. There is also a
very active unofficial "proshowgroup" Yahoo Groups site which can be very
helpful and is full of ideas.

For quick slide shows I use our clubs favorite image viewer, FastStone. Among
its many capabilities is a feature that lets you instantly play a slideshow from
a directory of photos including a variety of options such as transitions and
background music (Right click and choose slide show). Or, you can create a free
standing (.exe) slide show to share with others by chosing "Create/Slide Show
Builder" from the menu bar (or Alt+S).

Creating and sharing slide shows is great fun and the modern day photo album. We
frequently watch family event slide shows on our TV...photos that would have
otherwise languished sight unseen for years in traditional photo albums.

"Hutch"