Software advice please

[colinb53]

Being fairly new to digital photography, I would like your advice on which software package is best suited for newbies like myself.
I wish to do a fair degree of post processing but feel Adobe CS2 might be a touch complicated to begin with. My main aim is to produce slide shows with music and burn to disc. I have considered Elements 3 and wondered if this would be adequate.
Your advice would be appreciated

[BernBennett]

For your post processing, give PicWindow pro a try, from www.dl-c.com; and for your slide show get cam2pc from www.nobocorp.com. Both are available as downloads.

[rfreschner]

Elements 3 is a great tool to start with. It has many of the functions of the full blown CS2 and can be extended with the plug-ins that are available. Plus you get the Organizer feature for organizing your images. Highly recommended if you want to go to CS2 some day.

[colinb53]

Thanks for the replies guys, probably a dumb question but do I need a seperate package for producing slides and adding music as well as a post processing package??

[rfreschner]

Thanks for the replies guys, probably a dumb question but do I need a seperate package for producing slides and adding music as well as a post processing package??

I don't know if you're a Windows or Mac user but Elements 3 for Windows allows you to create custom slide shows with music and many other types of projects - See Here (http://www.adobe.com/tips/phsel3slideshow/main.html).