Beginner seeking photo-editing software advice

[Hello.there]

Evening all,

Yet another beginner's question from me.

I want to buy really good photo-editing software for my new iMac soon but have seen so many recommendations here I'm not sure what's what, what's the difference between these recommendations, etc. eg what's the difference between Aperture and Photoshop?

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[soul12]

how are you gonna use the the photo editing software for? if it's basic usage such as retouching, cropping, simple enhancement and simple effects, iPhoto is good enough. The new version of iPhoto in iLife '08 is comparatively faster than the previous version.

as for photoshop or apperture, i'm more familiar with photoshop so my advice would be biased.