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Microsoft provided software carrying two CDs--- Digital Image Suite 9 and the Digital Image Pro 9. It comes with wizards that walk you through the process, and tutorials that help you get started right away. The software also includes thousands of design templates for creating projects for home, business, and even the kids.

What makes the two applications different is the integration of the Digital Image Library with Digital Image Suite 9. With Digital Image Library, you can quickly import photos and at the same time organize them with captions, keywords, descriptions and ratings. You can sort and search the library to find photos fast, and provide a backup for your photos using the archive wizard. It also has Photo Story Lite that lets Windows XP users turn their photos into videos with background music and narration. This makes sharing your photo slide shows by email or on CD-ROM and VCD effortless.

On the other hand, Digital Image Pro 9 has new features that work quite well with the improved user interface. Users would definitely find the application friendly and helpful, especially with more of the tools available up front and out of the closet, so to speak.

Digital Image Pro 9 has the following features available:

• Smart Erase- Removes objects from a photo while filling in the area with the background texture. This works well with fairly consistent background surrounding.

• Blending Brush- Conceals flaws and blemishes without affecting the texture of the area.

• Straighten and Auto Crop- Photos can be rotated and automatically cropped when you drag a horizon line. The better to trim the extra canvas.

• Gaussian Blur- For that smoother blur compared to previous versions of the program.

• Unsharp Mask- Provides more control over sharpening that allows the users the option to choose from edge width, contrast, and noise reduction.

• Multiple Selection Tools- Over 60 preset shapes for marquee selection, including freehand, magic wand, and edge finder selection tools. For smoother selections, tools now have anti-alias and feathering options.

• Rule of Thirds- Displays a grid when cropping to improve the composition.

• Save for Mobile Devices- Reduces photos to sizes that fit mobile phones, pocket PCs, and Palm devices. Plus, the tool comes with 50 new effects filters.

• Print Multiple Auto Collage Templates- Compiles a huge selection of layout templates that is easy to use, with flexible multiple photo layout options.

• Larger Work Space.

Compared to other photo editing software, Digital Image Pro 9 stands out with over 3,000 professionally designed layouts for crafts, gifts, cards, stickers, labels, albums, scrapbook pages, among others. The two CDs also has 5,000 images, as well as a whole range of creative text effects. In addition, the program also features standard text formatting options and spell check support.

With an abundance of creative effects and fun designs, Digital Image Pro 9 is definitely a user's dream when it comes to simplified tools to enhance images, as well as providing a wide range of professional looking designs that can be customized with less hassle.