I've been using Liquid Edition since last August. I was a little turned off at first, but now I am a real fan. It is very responsive and stable. Sure I get a lock-up every once in a while, but what program doesn't. When I say once in a while, I mean once every four to five projects. I haven't had the chance to try Premiere Pro yet, but these days you can't go wrong with just about any NLE. They all have their pros and cons and all seem much more stable than a few years ago, back in the day when Avid was the only one that had any stability.

Wendy,
If you've already got Premiere, stay with it until you can save the money to upgrade.

Again, though, you're talking about a $700+ package. Wendy's looking for best of the dirt-cheap packages, although her budget of $20 is unrealistic.

Nick,

Glad to see someone else using MSP. I'm still using v6.0 that I got for $79 from ADS with a firewire card and cable. I was impressed with how easy it was to learn - especially for a pretty complete program. I guess I feel it should get more credit!

<<<-- Originally posted by Ken Tanaka : Wendy's looking for best of the dirt-cheap packages, although her budget of $20 is unrealistic. -->>>

Then Pinnacle Studio 8 with an upgrade to Studio 9 is the best bet. Can't do this for $20, but should be well under $100.

Actually, you can get Pinnacle Studio 9 SE on eBay for $23 - but you need to check it out to make sure it's a legal copy.

The nice thing about this is you can later upgrade to a "pro" package, Liquid Edition, later for about $200.

So Wendy, does any of this work for you?

how about FREE?

i have not used it myself but if you are very budget conscious check out the FREE NLE on linux:

http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php3

problem is you need to know linux inside out. so if you know linux