Leaving PC, going to MAC. Software application quesitons.

[greg hritzo]

I used CS4, BreezeBrowser and Downloader Pro for years. What MAC based software covers the same functionality? I've seen recommendations for Adobe Lightroom or Photo Mechanic. I'm not familiar with either of those programs. Is one of those comparable?

Thanks
-Greg

[Don Lacy]

Photo Mechanic is the equivalent to BreezeBroweser for the Mac platform. You will have to contact Adobe to see if they will transfer the CS4 license to Mac I know they will do it with current version not sure about an older one.

[greg hritzo]

thank you for your expertise Don, greg

[John Chardine]

Hi Greg- I am a Mac user (always have been although had Windows at work). You say you use CS4 so what you need is a program to manage your digital assets. This is what you used BreezeBrowser for. On the Mac side, of course, CS4 comes with a pretty good asset manager in the form of Bridge. However, I use Photo Mechanic and have done so for years because of its speed and overall functionality. It has a great "Ingest" function which would cover what Downloader Pro does (maybe not all as I've never used DP). During and Ingest (download images from camera/card to computer) you can rename files, annotate/keyword and many other functions. Photo Mechanic was originally built for Associated Press and they still use it. Currently it does not have a cataloguing feature but that's coming. They offer a trail download so I would give it a spin.

[TonyKyle]

Hi, several years ago I made the switch from Windows to OS X. Oddly enough I was also a early BreezeBrowser user. Today I use Lightroom which would serve your purposes there I believe. Adobe has changed the upgrade rules so not sure about your CS4 being converted to OS X.

I use a Java program called DIM which can still be had on the Internet. Used it under Windows and then OS X until I started using Lightroom (which has a good import module).

Good luck with your transition. Let us know if we can help any.