really? I'd say you can get more out of lightroom than iphoto has to offer in a week of using it. aperture does have a steeper learning curve. lightroom has a lot of 'power user' shortcuts that take longer to master, but if you wanted to do all the things you do in iphoto, it's just a weekend of really sitting down and learning the structure. If you're clueless about photography, then spending 300 bucks on one of these apps is overkill, though. Here's a good question to ask yourself: do you plan on shooting raw? if so, you're beyond iphoto, and there is no reason to live with iphotos quirks and limitations. If you like to be in control of your files and where they are stored, how they are named, etc, then lightroom is more what you're looking for. Aperture and to a greater degree iphoto, sort of make a mess of your files. Within the applications you will find that they are well organized, but if you try to access the stuff in the catalogs without Apple software, oh boy, good luck. You can have lightroom just stick all your digital negatives (or jpgs if you have those) in a folder called "my photos" and let it go. Any time you want to get one from a non-apple application, you can. It's just a different way to do things.
That said, aperture has some really great features that lightroom doesn't do as well. especially for pro photographers who shoot a LOT of images all at once. I would download the trials. Actually, i'd take 500 photos that you've got and put them in iphoto. Work with them as a sample set. Then a week later do the same thing with Lightroom. Third, spend a week with aperture's trial.
you will know in 3 weeks time which one is right for you. Don't invest 6 months into iphoto feeling like you maybe just don't know how to do some hidden advanced function that you'd like to do. If you can't figure it out in a week, it's probably not there.
my 7 cents.
