Aperture or..MS Expression?

[jmdeegan]

So, saw the ad for MS Expression Media 2, which sounds like something i could use-cataloging all images across all drives/media.

I have downloaded the free trial of this, as well as aperture, because i think these are similar products...

are they comparable? any pros/cons?

[nixcamic]

Pardon me if I'm way off, but Expression Media 2 is mostly an asset management program for website designers isn't it? Aperture is a photo asset/raw processing/post processing program, which is a lot closer to adobe lightroom in features, so you may want to download a trail of lightroom also.

[jmdeegan]

have lightroom 2, have never been impressed with it. I mean, it's ok, but i end up using iphoto just as often if not moreso. runs faster than LR

And I don't believe it is an asset management thing. Maybe one other tool in that suite, but the ad in Pop Photo (inside front cover for September), sure sold it as a photo management solution, so that you would have an accurate catalog of files, regardless of on C, D, DVD or removable drives. Made no mention of anything website related whatsoever.

[nixcamic]

I'm probably just getting it confused with the rest of the MS expression suite, which is mostly web design stuff and whatnot. So far have you found aperture runs faster than LR, because I have found aperture slow at times, as well as iPhoto.

[jmdeegan]

the last time a way back, i didnt give aperture a full shakedown. lightroom has had its time, and honestly i dont remember the last time i used it. PSE 6 on rare occassions, but i avoid PP as much as possible-its not my forte.

Ill give apperture a go, see how I like it. In theory, Picasa would do the same stuff but for free....but I like the apperture interface and from what I've read, 2 is a good move. but we shall see.

[kevinbier]

nixcamic is basically correct: Expression Media is a cross-platform catalog-based asset manager for creative pros. Lots of photo folks use it to organize, view, annotate, and search their photos. Also works well with a bunch of other file types (video, sound, fonts, documents, web stuff, etc.).

We think of it as providing full-fledged asset management that works well with the likes of RAW processors like Capture One and Bibble or RAW workflow apps like Aperture and Lightroom.

Cheers!
kb
Expression Media team

[nixcamic]

Now thats cool, that someone from MS took time to find this post. I'm usually a mac guy, but I'm gonna download this and try it, partly because of this, and partly because there's actually a mac port of it. Although I'll probably stick to aperture for photos, depending on how well this works I might use it for other stuff.

[jmdeegan]

very cool indeed. ive downloaded the trials for both, need to do some HDD shuffling anyways. nows as good a time as any.....