On the page provided by the first reviewer, they don't really claim that Daminion is Lightroom's competitor. They seem to provide that page to answer questions about the differences between the two programs and clearly state that while they both are photo management and presentation programs,Daminion does not have the editing functions of Lightroom. Thanks @Murat for the video links. They are very helpful so far.

papin, I'd be appreciate if you'll send me a few screenshots describing the issues to support/at/daminion/dot/net. Unfortunately I don't see where you the "You cannot undo this operation later!“ message and there is an option to move files to trash (optionally).

Thanks for the remark about laptop users - we'll take this into account!

Dear Mr. Johannes van der Zwan!

Could you please install Windows XP SP2 or SP3:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-xp-service-pack-3.aspx

And then try again. I also recommend you to upgrade to Daminion 3.2 version:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bs0a9biv9fs475r/Rak_mvvebf

Two new comments:

1. Post #3 has not been addressed...

2. I am satisfied with Zoner Photo Studio
(which was given here months ago)
Did someone noticed a specific feauture of Daminion not available in Zoner Photo Studio?

Take a look at series of videos on YouTube to quickly watch some Daminion's benefits:

http://www.youtube.com/user/DaminionDean

Sky1, thanks for the good questions! Please find my answers below:

Since you can buy an upgrade from basic to standard editions by paying $29.95, instead of the full $49.95 price, can we do that when we have a GOTD (free) registered version of basic edition, or not?

Yep, as the Basic license user you can upgrade to the Standard license for $29.95 instead of the full Standard license price ($49.95).


And if we can, once we have a catalog which is maxed out at 25k images in basic, and AFTER we have purchased the upgrade to basic, will our existing catalog have it’s capacity increased to 75k automatically or will it remain locked at 25k and we will have to start a new catalog (and do all the work/importing) all over again?

Your catalog's capacity will automatically increased to 75k files. No necessary to start a new catalog.

Oh, and talking of that, a final question would be, if I have this installed in my C:Drive and catalog everything on the external drive (including a few on the C:Drive), when the external HDD is not attached, will the images still show/show as broken images/or not show up at all?

You will see thumbnails (with 400x400 maximal size)of all images on the external HDD, but with a small question mark icon.

Thanks to support for relative paths, you can store your catalog file on the root folder of where your images are located. For example on your external HDD. In this case when you'll then connect your drive to your PC, and the drive's letter will be changed - Daminion can access your images properly without necessity to re-link the files.

You are limited to 25,000 photos in this GOTD. I have far exceeded that number of photos in my hard disks. So it is a no-go.

Anyway, I have had ACDSee (paid software) for the longest time and it has no limits on the number of photos that it can handle.

Installed on Win 7 Ultimate (X64) and I'm unable to create a catalog to test this thing out! Keep getting the following error message: Could not load file or assembly 'Picajet.Daminion._d02b882f' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. :(

Hopefully I'll get a response here or try their support forum as there is no free technical support of course

Long lists of 'better free alternatives' should be read cum grano salis. DigiKam, for instance, is a powerful programme with DAM capabilities, but it is a huge 'all in one' tool - manager, viewer, editor, uploader etc., and that is often not really wanted, when one needs a reliable specialised application. And Windows version of DigiKam is notably less stable than Linux one.

vvvP, on the other side, used to be a promising free programme, but has not been updated for almost two years. Windows version can't cope with non-ascii file names and the only xmp metadata support lives in the To do list.

Suggesting MS Gallery as better alternative is, well, not serious.

Today's offer is not perfect, but is getting better and, in fact, does not have much competition in it's free/affordable category.

I tried to install the aplication without any problem on a Windows XP 32 bits.
But when I want to open a NEW catalog I receive an error ("Unhandled exception has occurred in your application. if you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. if you click Quit, the application will close immediately. Method not found: Boolean
System Threading. WaitHandle.WaitOne(Int32).
Details
PicaJet.Daminion.Service
Assembly Version: 3.0.0.994
Win32 Version: 3.0.0.994
CodeBase: file:///C:/Archivos%20de%20programa/Daminion%20fotos%20catalog/PicaJet.Daminion.Service.DLL
----------------------------------------
9j4vlwhv
Assembly Version: 3.0.0.994
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Web
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3634 (GDR.050727-3600)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_32/System.Web/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Web.dll
----------------------------------------
3xy1uvpj
Assembly Version: 3.0.0.994
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.42 (RTM.050727-4200)
CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------

While the concept and layout isn't bad (installed on my Windows 8.1 64bit PC), the simple fact that I have pictures from 1997 and totaling well over the 75K limit makes this a bit unusable for me. I'll stick to Picasa....thanks though.

Would not install on my Win7 (x64) PC. Kept getting a message saying the downloaded file was corrupt. Have seen this before when loading GOTD programs so suspect an antivirus conflict or similar. However, programs will normally load on 32-bit Vista in spite of the same antivirus program. Needless to say, I did not give up after just one attempt but if it won't install on Win7, I'm not interested.

Why I would never use this software.

You add a bunch of files to a catalog. Suppose you made a mistake and don't want some of them. Select the unwanted files. Click on "Delete Selected". A window pops up with a very clear warning: "Do you want to delete the 1 selected files(s) from the disk? You cannot undo this operation later!".

A remark before I carry on. Noticed the "1 selected files(s)"? Is it really too difficult to program so it would read "the selected file" instead? In the eighties, it was OK. But since the software requires .NET framework, then it is a big programing fault. Now back to my review.

1. If I wanted to manage my files, I'd use Explorer. This is not a file manager, it's a catalog manager. So, it should ask instead "Do you want to remove the selected file from the list?".

2. Even if it wants to delete a file, why not drop it into the trash folder? Or is it the developers cannot think and/or are unable to program such basic task?

Sure you could use the option of copying a file to a folder and add it to a catalog, but then you'll end up duplicating files.

Like yesterday GOTD, this one suffers from severe flaws in its conception. There are plenty left to talk about, like the inability to add from a folder and "import" only supported files.

I almost forgot to add that if you're a laptop user, you will probably not like the broken interface: vertical and horizontal scrolling with the touchpad do NOT work where it is important it should.

Files imported. Registration was easy, go to website add name, email
and it gives you a serial number immediately.
With 1895 images to categorize with tags, I need a program that will let me fill in the name and tag it from a click drop down box.
I searched all over before I found the box to make new tags.
Really all this program does is tag,name, color, can't it be a little simpler?
AcDsee and Zoner does this and they are more than 1/2 the price.

Probably going to uninstall.

BETTER FREE ALTERNATIVES

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/photo-gallery#photogallery=overview
http://www.heliconsoft.com/safe.html
http://www.jetphotosoft.com/web/home
http://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/www/disoft/int/download/playmemories-home/win/en/index.html
http://vvvp.sourceforge.net/index.html
http://www.digikam.org/about?q=about/overview
http://lunarship.com
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool

And how about a FREE photo collection manager and viewer tool with CONTENT-based search?

http://www.imgseek.net

So who said we have to pay to manage large photo collections?

That’s CLEVERNESS and that’s fair.....LOL!

Enjoy!! ^_^

thanks #1 Karl for your review. I DL just to test it.
I have 6TB of photos, so I tested 1 folder with 1895 pics in it.
Taking along time to import the files into the program. Still waiting....and waiting.
Their competitor is Adobe Lightroom $149.00 and theirs is $199.95 for Pro
Lightroom allows me to completely transform any photo. Lightroom allows me to do everything this program does, for less money.

I am not convinced yet, maybe update after my files finally get imported. Still waiting

Version 2.0 has been offered here in last December and I have been using it as my photo cataloguing program since then. It is stable enough for normal usage, never did any damage to my collection.

It is under quite intensive development, manuals and tips tend to be outdated and incomplete, but forum works quite good, the developers usually respond quickly.

The licence with a year of updates is nice, if 25.000 photos per catalogue is enough for you.

Tim, Daminion Standalone Basic version is available today on GOTD.

BTW the latest Daminion (unofficial but stable) 3.2 version can be downloaded from our dropbox repository:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bs0a9biv9fs475r/Rak_mvvebf

On the download page of the publisher:
http://daminion.net/download
two version only are available - Free and Server

Here above on this page we can see five versions:
Standard - Pro - Pro Server - Home Server - Team Server

The version offered today is:
Basic
What's the difference compared to the Free Version?

Where is possible to compare the features of the various versions?

Because this is "available as standalone and multi-user server based versions", which one is today's GOTD?

The giveaways are restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. Since this is a "professional photo cataloging application aimed at creative pros and small teams," will an exception be made for this? I just want to ask because I will stick to the Terms of Service, or an official exception. Thank you all.

Installed and registered without problems on a Win 8.1 Pro 64 bit system.

A Russian company with names (photos) and address. The former PicaJet.

We had had the PicaJet software on April 25th, 2013 and the RoboImport 1.2.0.72 from the same company on April 11th, 2013.

Here are the old reviews:

http://giveawayoftheday.com/picajet/
http://de.giveawayoftheday.com/roboimport-12/

To the license:

This is the so called "basic" version. You can catalogue 25k files in one catalogue. With the "free" version you can add 15k files, the standard version 75k and the "pro" version is unlimited. Updates are free for one year. That's good!

I just checked my photos directory and found some 80k files - so I will surely NOT use this version, but I'll try to give a short test report.

They claim, that their competitor is Adobe Lightroom. Here is page about that :

http://blog.daminion.net/news/daminion-vs-lightroom/

(and you can import your lightroom catalogue)

A modern bright interface for your photos management. Not the dark lightroom style. Fast import and easy handling. One sees the experience from their PicaJet software. A chart for geotagging is automatically shown on the right lower side.

Imports my RAW files without problems. Remember: This is a photo database program. To work with the files, you have to choose external programs (therefor the small file-size)

An excellent photo management tool, restricted to 25k files, but you can define more than one catalog. Catalog2009, Catalog2010, Catalog2011.

For small photo collection surely one of the best (or THE best) systems available, for the bigger collections, you'll have to pay. That's marketing and that' fair.