I'm surprised that no one has yet posted about this latest release (announced on Jan.26th, I believe), complete with yet anouther name change. I'm running PSP X2 Photo Utltimate and am really struggling with whether or not I want to shell out $59.99 for an upgrade.

So, I'm wondering if anyone has been putting X3 through its paces? If so, care to share your initial thoughts with us? I'm being cheeky because I am not willing to do this myself at this point. X2 works very well on my system (Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) and I don't want to mess that up until I am sure that I might be serious about the possibility of upgrading.

My final point is this: doesn't $59.99 seem steep compared to previous upgrades, or am I just getting fuddled? This is actually a limited time offer, after Feb. 7 the price for an upgrade goes to $79.99.

For those interested, here are some of the highlights of this release:

Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 Highlights

• All-new Organizer: The new integrated Organizer includes tools for rating, tagging, locating and quickly touching up image files. The Organizer also makes it easy to select images and view them in multiple ways. In just a few clicks, RAW images can be converted to another format for posting, photo sharing or printing.

• Multi-photo Adjustments: Editing and enhancing is faster than ever now that changes made to an image can be captured and easily applied to multiple photos, removing the tedium of making the same changes over and over again.

• Smart Carver(TM): Quickly achieve impressive results by seamlessly and realistically removing objects and scaling without distorting the image.

• Express Lab: Bringing the most used tools together in one place, the Express lab now adds Color Balance, Local Tone Mapping, Contrast/Brightness, Sharpen and One Step Noise Removal.

• Camera RAW Lab: Supporting more than 350 RAW formats, the new RAW Lab makes it easy to adjust a variety of settings, such as white balance, exposure, brightness and saturation before processing. Adjustments made to any RAW image can be copied and applied to other RAW images in the Organizer.

• Object Extractor: It's quick and easy to precisely mask fine image details that are otherwise difficult to preserve – even challenging cases such as fly away hair, wisps of smoke and tree branches.

• Project Creator: This one stop tool makes it easy to create, edit and share projects. Produce photo books, collages, cards, calendars and photo slideshows including HD video in a few clicks. Share to YouTube(TM), Facebook® or Flickr®. Photo projects can also be printed through Corel's online print service.

Familiar Favorites Plus New Photo-Painting Features

In addition to a number of new and enhanced features, Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 continues to offer the advanced photo editing power of favorite features including HDR Photo Merge, Local Tone Mapping, Curves and Levels adjustments, Perspective Correction, plus tools including the Learning Center that help new photo enthusiasts get familiar with the application and create great results fast. Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 also includes Corel® Painter(TM) Photo Essentials 4 to get started with digital art. Offering the unique Auto-Painting palette, Corel Painter Photo Essentials 4 enables users to create a stunningly realistic work of art from a photo in just three easy steps.