Launch Ashampoo Photo Commander 5 for the first time and you might think it's just another image organiser. Explorer-like interface, thumbnail browsing, basic slideshows: it all seems very familiar. But take a moment to explore and you'll soon realise that Photo Commander 5 is crammed with useful functionality that puts it way ahead of the competition.

You get a stack of editing features, for instance: lossless (for JPEG) rotations, many different colour adjustments, resize and crop options, drawing tools, 20 special effects and more.

There's also a powerful batch conversion tool where you can apply many effects automatically. You might take a folder of images, then resize them all by a given amount, apply a set brightness and contrast change, build in a rotation and change the output format. All this happens in one dialog, then you can leave the program to get on with the work.

There are some truly excellent creative tools. The Frame Style Centre not only adds photo frames to your images, but can also display them in shapes: a heart, a Christmas tree, a jigsaw piece and more. Other modules build attractive collages, professional calendars, or even web photo albums to share your work.

You get plenty of practical features, too. There are options to find duplicate or similar images, for instance, as well as print thumbnail sheets or burn images to CD or DVD. The program can even burn slideshows to disc, complete with music and stylish transition effects, ideal for sharing wedding photos or other special shots.

And despite the name, Photo Commander isn't restricted to digital images. It's just as happy to manage and play videos, as well as audio files, and can build M3U or MFA playlists in a couple of clicks.

Upgrade Offer - save 75% on Ashampoo Photo Commander 6

The latest version of Ashampoo Photo Commander adds major new features like a Quick Fix Tools tab, delivering one-click colour and contrast optimisation, photo straightening, red-eye removal and more. You can now add objects like text boxes and shapes to a photo, then save them in a format that lets you edit them again later, without starting again. A screen capture tool can even work with multiple monitors and grab Vista's transparent Aero Glass effects, and you're able to email multiple images in a single PDF file. The regular upgrade cost for Photo Commander 6 is £29.99, but as a registered owner of the previous version you need only pay £7.49, a generous 75% discount. Click Internet > Upgrade to Ashampoo Photo Commander 6 to place your order.