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TUAW Tip: Aperture can download videos, just not catalog them



Well shiver-me-timbers: while Aperture doesn't catalog anything but images, it at least helps you download 'non-image files' off your camera so you can manage them some other way. When I performed the initial import from iPhoto (using Aperture's handy File > Import > iPhoto Library command), a notification appeared at the beginning of the import letting me know that Aperture found a few files it wouldn't import. I realized the files in question were probably a few movies I shot with my point 'n shoot camera, which led me to assume that Aperture simply doesn't handle or even touch those files to begin with. Apparently, my assumption was a bit off.

As it turns out, plugging a camera or card into Aperture that contains either audio or video files (and possibly other types) will generate the dialog you see in this post, allowing you to download the files Aperture isn't designed to handle to another location on your Mac. This is great because you can set up another location to, for example, store all the home movies you've been shooting and manage those files with the Finder or another app like yFlicks once you're done working in Aperture.

As for those home movies in iPhoto, I guess I'll still need to dig those out some other way. Fortunately, iPhoto automatically applies the keyword 'movie' to all movies it imports, which should make this task a bit easier for anyone else making the upgrade to Aperture like I did.