Thanks Digital Skunk, those are really valid - I look forward to any other thoughts you have.
The organization/hierarchy is big, I will play around a bit more. With 50 Projects in Aperture, I need a tight integration if I'm going to move anywhere.
Alright I am back now and yeah those were my main problems with LR. I loved curves and I loved how LR is a lot more simple in the UI. It's a very smooth application but there are some things you will have to sacrifice. My main issue is that LR locks you into its own workflow and you can't change it, and that it doesn't play with any other application at all, not even Photoshop. The way LR integrates with PS is about on par with Aperture, so that is not an issue at all.
Aperture does workflow the way I need it to do... which is my way, and that changes with whatever I shoot. Weddings are cut much different than stock, or architecture, or editorial. Some days I don't tone at all, I just shoot, import, edit my selects, then output. Some days I take a project from importing all the way to photo book.
I started with the LR beta and it was wonderful, by the time I was ready to purchase something Aperture was the only one available, so I went that way. Then LR became available and the issues I had with Aperture drove me over to Adobe, but after using LR for about two months I found myself working harder to fit the app into a workflow that existed Pre-Lightroom/Aperture, and trying to find ways to make LR talk to iWork/iLife/Final Cut/iWeb and Mac OS X.
As far as editing goes, they are both adequate but not as good as Photoshop of course but they aren't even close to NX. NX has the worst UI in my opinion and I am trying to ween myself back into the app. They both are missing my most desired feature, offline image editing, so my final judgement still stands as:
"They are both wonderful apps, so pick your poison."
If I was a Windows guy of course I'd be using LR and loving it though, but i am a Macintosh guy because of the software and how that software integrates and communicates with the other apps. Now where can I find a word processor that pulls images from my pro image editor, and imports video compressed in any format. No where can I find an image editor/organizer that works MY way no matter what, and exports photos into a Final Cut sequence with editable transitions and effects. The list could get long.
Now... Apple just needs to fix the hardware issues that I personally have and everything would be peachy keen. Sorry for the long rant.
p.s. you will miss smart albums, guaranteed.
