Hi Jim;
Thanks for not taking it the wrong way. Not trying to be negative or anything, just saying it as I see it.
It's a little hard to state exactly, but ACDSee is just a lot easier to use.
Some of the things I really like about ACDSee are...
* The database building is totally automatic. The user does not have to import anything, simply put the mouse on the folder & the images are automatically added to the database.
* Adding new images to an existing folder are automatically added to the database with no intervention required by the user.
* Thumbnails can be of any infinite size which is very nice as I can make them fit in exactly the space I allow in the right side of the screen. Also, the thumbnail border can be of any infinite size. I also have complete control over what data shows up on the thumbnails such as image size, file size, file name, file date, etc. I can also control the height to width ratio of thumbnails plus many more things.
* Printing images in ACDSee are wonderful. The selection of options & print choices are very good. Besides picking paper size & orientation, the user can choose how to print... Thumbnails, Fit to page, Position on page, Specify size, Number of columns, Number of rows, Add Header, Add footer, Add caption to printed image, and many other choices. The amazing thing is all this is done with a simple right mouse click then select Print. All of this is on the older v 5.0. For 6.0, ACDSee added many more print choices but I do not yet have it.
* Image viewing in ACDsee is much faster then in MC.
* Slideshow is very easy, Ctrl S or right mouse click & select Slideshow. You can select all images in a folder of only selected ones to appear in the slideshow.
* The number one thing that originally sold me on ACDsee (way back in v 2) was how it interacts with any file manager. If I am in Explorer, PowerDesk 5, or any image window such as a Windows folder view, I can double click on any image & it will instantly appear full screen. This is where ACDSee really shines... if I press the Escape key I am taken right back to the file manager, however, if I press the Enter key ACDSee loads with the image so I can edit it. Very slick indeed.
* When you double click on an image ACDSee uses a separate but well integrated image program that allows you to do some amazing things with viewing an image. It is also lightning fast.
* ACDSee is also one of the only image managers that will directly view some very obscure image formats such as the one used by Second Nature *.SNX images.
* Any editor can be added to the ACDSee Activities menu & the right click menu. I have added Adobe Photoshop to the right click menu. This is simply a wonderful thing as Photoshop then appears to be an extension of ACDSee.
* I can scan an image very easily from a TWAIN icon which I added to ACDsee. Any TWAIN device such as a scanner is automatically added to ACDSee when the scanner is installed. Again, similar to Photoshop, the scanner appears as an extension of ACDSee & makes ACDSee the heart of all of my image management.
* ACDSee has a lot of image specific plug-ins available, some free & some for sale. This again makes ACDSee the heart of all of my imagining management.
* ACDSee is the MC of imaging... very powerful with a lot of different looks, different layouts, different front ends. There are at lease three default looks that can be set; it can be configured as a basic very simple looking layout called Classic (taken from the v 2.1 classic ACDsee). Even though the look may be simple, all the power is still there as the menus have all the commands present. There are two other looks each more complex. You can also customize the look as virtually all items can be selectively turned on or off so everybody can have ACDSee just the way they want it. I know we had talked about doing something similar to MC a while back & would really love to see that happen in MC 11.
* Batch renaming is very slick & extremely fast & easy; is all done with the right mouse click.
* Similar to MC, ACDSee Options are very powerful except it is all for image management rather then for music.
* ACDSee will also pay music & videos pretty well but there is no way it will ever replace MC as it is above all an image management program.
* I don't see MC & ACDSee as competitors but rather as complementary to each other... MC the music king & ACDSee the image king.
* There are so many neat things about ACDSee that the only true way one can really appreciate the power of the program is to use it over a long time frame. Every time I think I can't do something in ACDSee I later find it can be very easily done (once I know how).
Well Jim, I hope this helps & I look forward to your thoughts on this subject as image management is as important to me as is music