Kodak to Offer Computerized Pictures Nationwide

Amateur photographers will soon be able to get their pictures stored on CD-ROM as easily as developing a roll of film into prints, as Eastman Kodak Co. rolls out its Picture CD product nationwide. But it will cost about $9 more a roll for the novelty of having a photofinishing store computerize their traditional snapshots.

Kodak, which developed the Picture CD along with Intel Corp. as part of a drive to expand mainstream photography to the Internet, said test marketing over the last four months went much better than expected.

Picture CD will begin popping up at national chains such as Kmart Corp., Walgreen Co., CVS Corp. and Target Stores in a few weeks and will be available at more than 40,000 retail stores nationwide.

At least initially, traditional prints, which cost roughly $5 to $8 per roll, must be purchased along with CDs. The CDs are simpler to use than the floppy disks that Kodak and other photo companies now sell, which require consumers to load their own software onto their computer.