The alternative would be something like the Aurigma software (you probably know it from Facebook and some other big sites) but I'm hesitant, because it requires an ActiveX- or Java install from the user. On the other hand it offers to resize files on the client side, allowing faster uploads and saving quite some bandwidth.
I also hat a look at SWFUpload, which lets you control almost every aspect of the uploader and even has Javascript callbacks on all events. But it looks a bit complicated and before I dive into that, I would like to hear your advice: which way would you go to build a robust bulk upload solution for your website?