Help with working RAW images

I am interested in working with RAW formatted pictures and the first time I went to downlaod them on my computer I was unable to with out converting then into JPEG and extracting the whole reason why I wanted to shoot RAW. Does anyone have any advice I what sort of software I need to download or anything else I need to be successful in dowloading and being able to work with RAW files. Right now I am using Adobe Photoshp 6 and also use Image Expert 2000 quite often. Please help, I have no clue about RAW so treat me like a child if you have the time.
Thanks

Work with 2 programs: Breezebrowser and YarcPlus. Not sure which one is the best, still testing.
From both you can download a trial version.

Henk

JR,

Have a look at this article on my site. It should answer some of your questions:

http://www.rogercavana​gh.com/library/t11_wor​kflow.htm

Regards,

If you are looking for a free solution, you may consider Raw Image Converter 2 by Canon:
http://www.powershot.c​om …ot2/customer/RI​W_202.html. It will batch convert RAW images to TIFF.

If you plan on retouching, please use 16bit/channel setting.