Apple Aperture 3 trial lowdowns

After two years of being stuck with version 2.x, Apple has finally released the newest version of its digital asset management software — Aperture 3.0. Boasting more than 200 new features, the photography community is excited to test this new baby. Before you download and install the trial version of Apple Aperture 3.0, here are some important things you need to know.

First catch. If you’re a Google Mail user, chances are, you’ll be receiving a blank email from Apple when you request for the 30-day trial. Don’t panic. Click the right down arrow menu and select “Show Original.” Make sure you delete any “=” (equal) signs that it uses to split the long URL to the DMG download link before you try to paste it in your browser.

Second catch. You can’t use or upgrade your existing 2.x library to use with the new version. Yes, it’s a bummer. There’s no direct upgrade of your 2.x library to 3.0 unless you have the full version of Aperture 3.0 (meaning, you’ll just have to live with it if you have the trial version). However, there’s a solution. The workaround is to export your existing 2.x projects and them import them to the new version 3.0 library.

Third catch. The import process is slow even on an 8-core, 2.8Ghz Mac Pro, according to some testers. They suspect that this might be caused by the new feature, face detection, which was copied from iPhoto ‘09. Also, according to some reports, the generation of thumbnails is excruciatingly slow.

Fourth catch. If you already have a licensed Aperture (maybe version 2), the installer will ask you to rename the licensed app before it can proceed. After you have entered the trial serial number, the installer will proceed with the installation. This will eat up 800+MB of disk space.

I’ll be posting more experiences here from users who have already tried the new version. I’m excited to know how it handles huge libraries to take advantage of it’s 64-bit goodness.

Tagged as: Aperture, Apple