How I wish there was an aftermarket primer for PowerDirector. I've paid good money (from $20 to over $40) for how-to books for InDesign, QuickBooks Premier Accountant, PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive and the like. In some cases, I've bought multiple aftermarket primers whose total cost was nearly as much as the cost of the software itself.

I'm pleased that PowerDirector came with a real manual, but the book is, like all such official manuals, inadequate, covering only the barest of essentials. Also, it's in mass-market paperback size, and the black-and-white icon pics are so small that a magnifying glass is needed to see them. Most aftermarket primers are in trade paperback format (ie, hardcover size, paperback covers), and the images are often in full color.

Adobe publishes a Classroom In A Book series, with enclosed CDs that give live examples of how to build a project from start to finish. Wouldn't it be lovely if PowerDirerector did something similar. It may be that, compared to Adobe products, PowerDirector just doesn't have a large enough audience to justify the effort.

Dafydd's tutorials are excellent, but they don't cover every aspect of how to get from ground zero to the finished product. And videos are a weak substitute for the written word and illustrations. An aftermarket manual can be propped up beside your computer keyboard for specific reference while you're building a PowerDirector project - even the most comprehensive video can't. Also, you can quickly and easily turn forward and backward in a book. In a video? Bon chance, mes amis!

Even so, are there enough PowerDirector users and potential buyers to motivate someone to write an aftermarket primer, and get Que, O'Reilly, or Peachpit Press to publish it?

Ah, well ... onward and upward with the arts.