Software prices

[Celebration]

I'm going to be hanging out at home a lot because I have to have an operation on my right ankle, so the time is right for me to get some decent software that is not too complicated. I am leaning towards Lightroom at first because I really want the organizational stuff. I can spend tons of time doing keywords and so forth while I am healing.

My question is.......why is there so much variation in prices everywhere? I found Lightroom here for download at a very good price.

http://alfa-downloads.net/

What is the downside? Is there something I need to know before I just go ahead and purchase it? Does it have to do with how many computers you can put it on or something? Why would people pay more other places if this is okay?

[NV Whino]

1. I can tell you one thing

The Adobe creative Suite price is the student/educator price. These editions can't be upgraded. Read the fine print carefully.

[Celebration]

2. Okay, that makes sense then

I knew there must be some difference. I still might go for it........Thanks.

[regnaD kciN]

43. Let me take that a bit further...

The LR3 price is significantly lower than the student price ($59 versus $99). Plus, I believe that several items on that site feature a "download price" when those products are only sold in disc form. In other words, I suspect you're dealing with this sort of retailer:


(obviously, not my photograph ;-) )

I would highly recommend Lightroom. I got dragged kicking and screaming into using it to replace Photoshop Elements several years ago, and I now find that I can do about 95% or more of my processing tasks in it, as well as use it to catalog and print my images, as well as build galleries for my website. By the way, if you can get the academic version (all it takes is a relative with a kid in school...and, when I say "in school," I mean anywhere from kindergarten through grad school), I wouldn't worry about the lack of upgradeability. Look at it this way: they bring out a new version of LR every two or three years, right? Since the academic price is about one-third retail, you could buy three complete non-upgradable versions for the price of an upgradeable non-academic version, which would cover about six-to-nine years...and, then, if you still know a kid in school, you can buy another academic version for less than it would cost to upgrade a non-academic version.

[Celebration]

44. Good points

Thanks.

[Alameda]

3. Have you seen Paint Shop Pro...or Painter....or Thumbs Plus

I love Painter, although the earlier versions were much better. Thumbs Plus is a great organizational tool and process on the fly program. It's the one I use most the time. I have used Photoshop but don't like it, got Paint Shop Pro and realized it's almost exactly the same.....but much less$$$$

I've kept upgrading Thumbs Plus for almost 20 years...or since their version one. I would not want to be without it.

[Celebration]

4. thanks, I'll look at it!

I need some serious organization here.

[alfredo]

7. I use GIMP. The price is right. It also has a lot of plugins.

I don't do much printing so I don't get too hung up on how colors translate to prints.

http://www.gimp.org/

I have it as the default editor for iPhoto

[Celebration]

9. I downloaded that once

And never could figure it out! I don't know what the problem was. I guess I got impatient. ;)

[alfredo]

10. Like Photoshop, it has a steep learning curve.

I came from the Mac world where the menus are at top of the screen, GIMP has them like you see in Linux: on the window. That took a bit to learn.

There is a hack called GIMPShop that emulates the PS menus. It is lagging behind other builds.

[Blue_In_AK]

19. I've had PaintShop Pro from the beginning and I love it.

As far as I can tell, it does everything that I personally would be using PhotoShop for, but as you say, for a lot fewer dollars.

[Richard D]

5. Just saw this

Lightroom contender and in beta test. Try it, submit a report, and the software is free. PhotoDirector 2011 for Win:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-20068502-58/get-lightroom-competitor-photodirector-2011-win-for-free/?tag=cnetRiver

[Celebration]

6. thanks, ya can't beat the price

Is it completely safe to do this? I've never done a beta test........

[Richard D]

8. I think so

I've beta'd a few things without any problems. You might hit a few snags, but they should be minor. By the time a software gets to public beta it's generally pretty OK.

I'm deeply committed (entrenched) in Lightroom, or I'd go for it.

[ohheckyeah]

11. I got software

from this company: http://www.baselinesoftware.com/manufacturers.php?product=Adobe

Fully registrable and upgradable. I bought the Adobe Web Premium CS5.

[rdking647]

12. be careful

the student version requires you to send adobe a copy of your scool od or other id to activate th eprogram

[Pharaoh]

13. I'm told

lightbox is the way to go, lots easier to operate that photoshop. Was also told it goes for about 180 bucs.

I am not ready to buy yet but let us know what you think if you get it.

[Pharaoh]

14. Hmmmmmmmmmm

looks like you can get the full version for 82 bucs!

I'm in!


http://photography.about.com/od/digitaldarkroomsoftware/fr/adobelightroom.htm

[Pharaoh]

15. nevermind

that is an upgrade version. yes, you have to be careful.


full version at amazon


Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 - Mac OS X, Windows 7 / Vista / XP
Buy new: $299.00 $179.00

31 new from $179.00
In Stock

[Celebration]

16. and is this an upgrade version?

http://alfa-downloads.net/shop/item/671/

I thought it might be that you could just use it on one computer, and once you get a new computer you need another program??

Does upgrade version mean you don't get updates when the program changes?

I keep going back and forth on all of this, which I have done for the last two years, which is why I have no decent software.

[Pharaoh]

17. Hey I'm not sure

If it was up to date but not updated, it would still be awesome.

If you buy software you can put it on your own computer laptop. It's electronically signed to you I think. Linked to your name. In case you sell it to others for money. Then they get pissed :o)

[HappyCynic]

18. Upgrade version...

An upgrade version is for owners of previous versions. So, if you get an upgrade version of Photoshop, you have to have a previously installed and registered full version or the serial number proving you've registered a previous version. Typically an upgrade version will work for owners of the the last one or two versions, but this depends on the software and publisher, as some upgrade versions only work for the previous version. (e.g. For some software, people with version 4 or version 5 would be able to use the upgrade to version 6 but owners of versions 1, 2, or 3, or people who don't own any version would need to purchase the full version 6 package.)

Hope this is clear.

[Celebration]

20. Oh, then I don't think this is an upgrade version

But I bet you don't get upgrades. I have no idea, but I may try it anyway since it is very low cost compared to everywhere else.

[ohheckyeah]

21. Upgrade version means you have a previous

version. Like upgrading Windows Vista to Windows 7.

[ohheckyeah]

22. This is a

reputable site: http://www.baselinesoftware.com/catalogsearch/advanced/result/?name=Lightroom&x=0&y=0

[Celebration]

25. I'm sure it is

But it also is way more expensive. I'm just trying to figure out the *exact* reason for the difference in price, rather than a general uneasiness.

[ohheckyeah]

33. I did a lot of research

before using this site. Just type in the site name and put scam behind it. If there are complaints that will bring them up.

Good luck!

[Celebration]

34. ah, good idea n/t

[postatomic]

23. Lightroom doesn't seem any better than Picasa

http://picasa.google.com/features.html

That download site has my spidey senses tingling. If your objective is to organize you don't need any software. With windows I just right click and I can enter tags, keywords, etc, etc on any image. Then I just search when I want to find something.

Bummer on the operation thing. I'm beggin' my SO to get her foot fixed but she's hesitant to go through the down time.

[Celebration]

24. I think I would rather have Lightroom

I've tried Picasa, too. Actually the only software that I have tried that I actually like are Irfanview and a VERY OLD version of HP photo software. Of course, the price was right.

As far as my operation goes, at least this will force me to make a decision on software soon.

I am wondering why that website had your spidey senses tingling? Was it price alone?

I don't want to do something stupid. What would be the exact consequences of my paying sixty bucks at this site vs. two hundred bucks other places. Is it, no updates? Adware? Stuck on one computer only? I'm still trying to figure that out. Or do you think it is even more malevolent, as in stealing credit card number? The only thing about that site that has my spidey senses tingling is the price. That is the only thing that makes me suspicious at all.

The more I think about it, maybe Richard D's free software idea is the best way to go since I am having a hard time with the price of Lightroom various places. But I may be drugged still when I give the review. THAT should be interesting. Plus my review won't be worth much because I don't have a lot of experience with photo software.

[NV Whino]

26. Here's info from their FAQ page

1. Why do you sell software cheaper than official brand providers do?

Because buying the software with us you receive the copies of downloaded licensed versions. This means, you will have no hard copies of documentation (licenses or instructions) - just files and instructions in .txt format. This software is not registered online. But we can offer you all updates for most of the software. This software is purchased by wholesale from official providers, whose wholesaling prices are considerably lower. As we do the minimal price markup free of packing, recording, transportation expenses, our price is lower than the retail price of official providers.

2. Is your software of full versions and not of upgrade versions? Do you sell upgrade software? Do I need to have a previous version of product?

We are selling FULL versions ONLY - not upgrades. You don't need to have any previous versions of the software. If you have any other versions already installed (previous ones or upgrades) you need to REMOVE them completely before you start installing our software (to avoid conflicts between different versions of the software.) After un-installing you should also clear the Registry (for PC software) from the corresponding entries.

3. Can I still get updates from the manufacturer's websites?

Yes you can. Our software is full and legal to upgrade unless it is mentioned in the instructions, which come with the software. You can also ask our Support team about exceptions.

4. What languages does your software support?

English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Danish.

You can ask our Support team for exceptions.

5. Can you send me a CD with software?

No, we cannot.

6. Is your software only for home use? How many computers can I install my purchase to?

Yes. Most items of our software are for home use only and you can use your software only for 1 computer. You can apply to our Support team via our questionnaire form on the website to find out more about it.

7. What is the format of your files?

All software is packed into archives in either .zip or .exe formats. For unpacking you need to download and use only 7-zip from download area. (You can download it for free after purchase). In the archives you can see ‘.exe’ or ISO files (image of software CD). Such files are for CD/DVD burning. You can get Instructions and CD/DVD burning software for free after purchase.

8. Why can't I receive any emails from Software Store?

We do not send 'spam', or unsolicited bulk commercial emails. We do not share your personal information, such as your email address, with any other parties. However, some email services reject our emails like shady due to standard letter subjects. So we recommend you NOT to sign up to Software Store services via the following email services: Hotmail and MSN: If you haven’t received emails from us, the reason is most likely Hotmail's 'Junk Mail Filter', which is supposed to block 'spam', or unsolicited bulk email ('junk mail'). Unfortunately, it sometimes blocks even solicited mail including ours. You will certainly find all emails you have missed either in your 'Junk Mail' folder or in the 'Trash' folder. You can either disable the Junk Mail Filter, or add us to the 'Safe List', which is the list of accounts you do not want to be blocked by the Junk Mail Filter. To do so, you need to log in to your Hotmail account. (Select 'Options', then select 'Safe List'.) You may wish to contact Hotmail for assistance. Yahoo: If you are a Yahoo Mail user, please check your Bulk Mail folder. If you find our message in your Bulk Mail folder, open it and click on "Send to Yahoo! for Review" to let them know Software Store emails are not unsolicited commercial email (spam). If you do not want a Bulk Mail folder at all, go to Mail Preferences. You may wish to contact Yahoo for assistance.

[Celebration]

27. thanks so much!

The downside is only one computer, as far as I can see. Plus a few you maybe can't update. If I go with Lightroom (which is all I was asking about), I will probably try this.

[Pharaoh]

28. Heres the scoop

I would stay away from it lest you lose your 60 bucks for some unusable pirated software.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1671068

and this

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110430163204AAe2Xrr

[Celebration]

29. Okay, point made

I'll avoid. I may call them anyway, and do some "investigation." Maybe it is places like this that are responsible for that stupid law about the government being able to shut down websites??? I did come here because the price made me suspicious.

Since my goal is not to spend much money, I am going the Photo Director (RD's suggestion) route. If I like it I will be fine. If I don't I can start over with all of this down the road, but still have my money.

[NV Whino]

31. These things are cheap enough

that you can buy an entirely new program for the price of an update. So, I wouldn't worry about being able to update.

[CC]

32. Before you make a decision on the

one computer only, Adobe only allows its software on 1 computer at a time. When you see it on multiple computers it is because they have bought multiple licenses. (Bulk buys may get a discount.) There may be exceptions on non-pro software but there is no exception for educational versions of Photo Shop etc.


I use Photo Shop but I would say unless you think you will need to share files with businesses that require you use Adobe products I would go with Paint Shop. As for organizing I use Photo Mechanic but I got it free from the America 24/7 and all 50 states shoot.I really like it for naming photos but have not used any of the editing functions. The way I name photos is part of my homemade organizing system. There probably are things Photo Shop does that Paint Shop Pro doesn't but they are rarely used by the average person, even the average person in a trade that uses it. There is a learning curve with any software. I would Google free tutorials online and see how many usable ones there were for each program. They can be great and very helpful when learning. I know there tend to be a lot of free ones for both Photo Shop and Paint Shop. Since I haven't tried the other software I haven't looked at any they would have.

Good luck on your surgery, may you heal fast and be pain free.

[Celebration]

30. Thank you SO MUCH everyone and here is my update

Every single person who replied here I owe my gratitude.......I haven't called the sleazy website yet, but plan to.

Per Richard D's suggestion (Lightroom contender and in beta test. Try it, submit a report, and the software is free. PhotoDirector 2011 for Win:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-20068502-58/get-light...)

I downloaded PhotoDirector 2011.

The download was seamless. So far I have imported all my 2011 photos, left them in my original folders, and played around with them. I only have had to go to the task manager a few times :silly: when I thnk I did something dumb and it locked up. I have no idea how to organize but the photo editing looks like exactly what I need for now. And they have a lot of presets that look good.

Now, hopefully I will learn how to organize photos. Oh I haven't figured out how to crop yet either. :rofl: I have some work to do before I can submit a report.

Maybe someone else here will go the same route!

[ohheckyeah]

35. I'm glad you found something.

My old computer wouldn't recognize my camera so I had to use the camera software and move it to Adobe Bridge, etc. It was a pain. My new computer (woo hoo....3.4 gh, 8 gb of ram and 1 TB hard drive) recognized my camera and I could import it directly into Adobe Bridge. Bridge is very cool for organizing photos.

[Celebration]

36. Ha, the program is pretty buggy!

to say the least. I'm not going to be able to use it to organize photos until I get the full version, that hopefully will address the problems. I can use it now for occasional edits. It's okay for that with all the presets. I already sent back my review. Guess what? The questionairre even had a bug in it, making me answer a question that it shouldn't have. I had to lie and say that I uploaded to Facebook from there in order to get them to accept my review! I got a kick out of that. Still I am glad I did it. I assume they will get their act together for the final version.

I can probably keep myself busy just going through my folders and eliminating photos.

[ohheckyeah]

37. Sorry to hear that.

Have you considered using a free software to organize the photos, something like Picasa and then getting Photoshop Elements for editing? Photoshop Elements is great software for the price. It's about as much as most people need or want.

I got a free Photoshop Elements with a printer once and since I had Photoshop I gave it to my sister. You can usually buy it for less than $100. Here's the version 8 which isn't all that old and should do most anything you want to do:
http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Elements-OLD-VERSION/dp/B002ID8R3Y

It looks like you can organize your photos with Elements.

If my wonderful husband hadn't gotten me the CS5 Suite I think Elements would be the way I would go. Good price, great features.

[Celebration]

39. I didn't really like Picasa

And I actually think I will like the program I got free if they fix it! So I might just wait. Right now it isn't doing anything but saying 000007 error or something like that. I probably need to reboot my computer. I cannot imagine the reviews they are getting on this thing. And believe me, every review will say they either uploaded to Facebook or to Flickr!

One thing I like about it is that it gives you the option of importing the photos but leaving them in the original location, not making copies. But I am thinking they don't really have that part down yet.

[postatomic]

38. I'm not entirely clear on what you are wanting

You might want to check out this site. It's all freeware/shareware software and they get high marks from Cnet:

http://www.faststone.org/

If you're looking for a photo editor that does organization you might want to check out Paint Shop Pro. Their organizer is incredibly detailed and functional. It's sooooo detailed that you can put down what you had for lunch the day you took the photo and what you were wearing. :P

Seriously, for the money it is a very good all-round photo editing/organizing program.

Wish I could be more helpful. Like I said before. I do my own organizing just using different folders and entering keyword info by doing a right click on the image. Doesn't cost me anything other than time.

[Celebration]

40. Thanks!

Well, I really REALLY love the way that Flickr organizes photos. But I would rather have my own program. Are there any programs that organize photos like Flickr? That would be ideal. At this point organization is my first priortiy, but I need better photo editing as well.

Also, what I really wanted was Lightroom at the very cheap price.

I like leaving the photos in their original folders. The beta version I downloaded did allow me to do that, but I have a feeling that is where their program was having a lont of difficulty.

[postatomic]

41. Then I'd really suggest trying 'Faststone'

It's a 'safe' program and it works in the manner you'd like. Integrates with your original folders so you can organize your favorites, etc.

It is free. Give it a try. If it doesn't work the way you'd like then just delete it. But try it. I did, and I like the ease of use. Allows me to enter comments, etc. Cool program.

[Celebration]

42. Thanks, I'll probably do that

after the operation.

[Celebration]

45. This is where I am with all this!!

Honestly this thread had lots of great advice, and sometimes when I get lots of great advice, I am left even more confused. In any case I thought I would let you know how I have been spending my time with my photographs while I am on the mend (it certainly hasn't been with taking photos!).

1. First, I got the first free version of Photo Director, as suggested by Richard D, and started using it. I liked the editing, but once I started importing photos in bunches it got all tangled up and started doing error messages. I did give them a review stating that, so that I could get the final version for free.

2. Because it got so many good reviews here, I ordered the full version of Lightroom. They sent me some person's guidelines that said I really needed an external hard drive just for my photos (really?) Then I started looking at external hard drives.

3. Do I really want an external hard drive? I mulled that over for a week or so. Meanwhile I looked at my hard drive capacity vs. my photos space, etc. At this point for testing purposes I had imported all of my 2011 photos into Photo Director or Lightroom. I decided I really didn't need an external hard drive. Then at the same time I also decided I didn't really want two or three copies of my photos on my hard drive for organization purposes either, because that took up too much room.

4. Photo Director sent me their final version.

5. Meanwhile, I spent a ton of time eliminating crappy photos I had taken from my photo folders. Since 2008, about, I have them organized by month and year, but my latest way of having them organized, as of a few months ago was by year (folder), month (subfolder), and within that, I put an "a" before the numbers for any photo that had been edited in Irfanview. I did not go back and change this for earlier photos. In those the month and years were mostly okay, but I did not keep the original file name in the edited photos names but just named them random things like a01.

6. Since I ruled out organizing the photos on my hard drive, like I originally wanted, I decided that I would go on and take full advantage of my Flickr account, which allows my unlimited photo storage. I began transferring all of my images (AFTER I had eliminated the crappiest photos), by month! I mostly used the private setting on these so only I could access these. As I did that, I put them in the appropriate sets, eg. 2010 06June, etc. I am still working on this! I am finally starting on 2011. I plan to do lots of sets, entitled things like "Tennessee River Birds", "Shelby Farms" "Non Bird Animals" etc. In that way I am going to use the cloud for organization, sparing my own hard drive and the need to get an external hard drive. Keep in mind that in culling my photos, the ones in 2011 that I had imported into the softward had to be eliminated from my hard drive. This took me a ton of time eliminating just the copies of 2011 photos. Sheesh. It felt like spring cleaning getting rid of those.

7. That left me with two programs for photo editing-- Lightroom, and the final version of Photo Director. I no longer was interested in organization on my hard drive. I tried both programs. Photo Director, to me, was far more intuitive as to how it worked. I am sure I still don't understand everything about it, but I have been playing around with the editing in Photo Director and it is a lot of fun. I only "import" one photo at a time--just the ones that seem worth of editing at the time. My two hundred dollar Lightroom purchase is basically just sitting there not doing anything for right now. At some point I'll compare them, but I think I will try to learn more about Photo Director first. I still have no idea if it locks up after doing batch imports because I had decided I didn't want that.

Anyway, obviously Photo Director is far more versatile than Irfanview at photo editing.

Gulls edited in Irfanview, previously



Different editing in Photo Director (still don't like radical editing of nature photos)



I don't really love one over the other but there is just much more flexibility with Photo Director, and I am just beginning to figure out what it can do.

So, I have been busy. Not sure if anyone cares about any of this, but everyone offered me so much guidance here I just felt obligated to go through my thought processes and progress up to this point. Who knows, a year from now I might be doing something entirely different. Oh, and yes, I still do regular backups of my photos onto a separate backup drive. I am not totally dependent on the Flickr cloud.

[NV Whino]

46. Thanks for the update

I wish you a speedy recovery... but not too speedy or you won't get your photos organized. ;)