MS offers Expression Media 2 trial, ships mid-May

Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Expression Studio 2, and with it, Expression Media 2 for the Mac platform. The digital asset management solution for photographers and other creative professionals adds support for the latest file formats including RAW, provides geotagging functionality; it will ship with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition come mid-May. Expression Media allows users to create media databases containing pictures, movies, and audio files for over 100 supported media formats. Microsoft Expression Media 2 for Mac is currently in a 30-day trial, and will be available with Office for $500.

Unveiled last year after the acquisition of iView in 2006, Expression Media keeps track of all media files, even ones that have been archived to optical media, hard drives, and shared folders. If media is not accessible due to the disc not being mounted, users can still browse, search, and annotate the offline files. Users can also edit metadata, such as EXIF, for accurate organization of media.

Expression Media also supports batch conversions, presentations, archiving and backup, automated tasks, and more.

Filed under: software
Other story tags: Microsoft, Office 2008, Expression Media