software - What are the differences between Picasa and Lightroom, other than price?

I've heard about Adobe Lightroom before, but never really understood what's so great about it, or why you'd pay for it when you can get Picasa for free.

I know Lightroom probably has more sophisticated editing options, but what are they, exactly, and how to do they compare to Picasa? Why would you use one over the other? Is Lightroom better for streamlining editing workflow, but Picasa is better for organizing & tagging photos? And would you ever use both programs?

Basically, what are the differences between Picasa and Lightroom?

Answer

There are several features that I think are just awesome in one or the other. Depending on your needs, one of these features will make you (usually + some other things) go towards Picasa or Lightroom.

Lightroom:

• Integration with other Adobe product (Photoshop, InDesign, etc)


• More sophistication in editing (somewhere in between Picasa & Photoshop)
  
  
  
  • Color correction, CA correction
  
  
  • NR & sharpening
  
  
  
  • Exposure & WB adjustments
  
  
  
  


• Can do batch processing

Picasa:

• Arguably faster (much faster for me)


• Integration with Google product (Blogger, etc)


• Simpler editing tools

So, if your workflow deals with more Photoshop, other Adobe stuff, Lightroom is the way to go. If you need more editing tools but don't want Photoshop, go Lightroom. Other than that, like me, I went for Picasa.