Is it Worth Upgrading from Photoshop Album 2 to Elements 3?

Question: Is it Worth Upgrading from Photoshop Album 2 to Elements 3?

Ketan writes: "I have Photoshop Album 2. I understand Adobe has merged Photoshop Album with Photoshop Elements 3. To use for only photo organizing features does one need to upgrade from Photoshop Album 2 to Photoshop Elements 3.0? Does Photoshop Album which comes with Elements 3 has any major new features over Album 2?"

Answer: As of November 2004, Adobe hasn't said whether they will continue to develop Photoshop Album as a separate product. If they do, I imagine the improvements will eventually make it into the next stand-alone version--If there is one.

Some of the new features are:

• photo stacks - lets you group similar photos under one thumbnail
• version sets - like photo stacks but each edited version of a photo is saved
• unlimited nesting levels for tags, unlimited top levels for tags
• drag and drop tags in the tree to change hierarchy
• 1-5 ratings for favorites tag
• photo mail for sending photos by email with themed frames and backgrounds
• photo review - review newly added pictures at full screen and rank, delete, rotate, tag as you review them.
• photo compare - a side by side preview for comparing photos in a series
• add borders and decorative frames when printing
• minor interface/useability tweaks

That's all I can think of right now. Hopefully others will jump in if I missed anything big. Of course, you also get the full editing features in Photoshop Elements 3.0, which is significant if you don't already have Photoshop.

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