Hi,
I use both
http://www.movabletype.org and
http://www.TypePad.com. Both developed by a company called Six Apart.
MovabeType blogs "feed" my website
http://www.informationconnections.com and a site I developed for our local rotary
http://www.nanuetrotary.org.
The link to Occassional Ramblings is a TypePad blog.
TypePad has numerous features that are exactly what I was looking for, including password protection on both weblogs and photo albums.
Because I was a beta test, I was given 20 keys that I could share with friends and family which gives a 20% discount. The full pro version with the discount is only $11.96 per month. If you are seriously interested once you review, I would be happy to give you one of the keys -- but I don't want to waste it on someone who is not going to use it.
I have absolutely no relationship to the company,
I just love their products.
MovableType has to be installed on your hosting server but TypePad does not. I have to tell you I absolutely love both products and the support that I have gotten from the company.
I've also used Blogger and Blogger Pro.