This article compares the media “photo book” and “photo album” with regard to their implications for the user: both can serve similar purposes, among them, memory, identity, and representation, and their contents are often very similar on first sight. However, they carry different messages in relation to nostalgia, time, authority, authenticity, originality, and fixation. Even though the photo book is the newer medium, it seems that it is less suitable to satisfy “postmodern” needs. The photo album, however, appears as more authentic due to its uniqueness and enables a less linear and more open way to re-create the own life story.