A friend of mine who is a Mac user is always complaining about not being able to download full photo albums from Picasa. Well, I'm glad to tell her I just found the solution.

Picasa Webalbums Assistant is a simple Java tool developed by a computer student who also had the same problem as my friend: if you use a Mac and therefore don't have Picasa, downloading photo albums one picture at a time is a real pain. Of course, that doesn't mean this app is only intended for Mac users. If you use Windows but don't like Picasa you can also take advantage of this app. You'll be able to download material both from public and private albums and select the right photos thanks to its convenient thumbnail preview.

Having been created in Java, the program is not certainly very nice or user-friendly. However you can tell the author has made a great effort to make it as easy to use as possible.

While Picasa Webalbums Assistant doesn't have the most attractive interface in the world, it's the perfect tool to download Picasa photo albums without Picasa.