Illustrator/Photoshop...err...dude.

I've been using CS1 and PS7 ... I can't even remember what PS6 had that these don't ... I'm sure there's plenty of little things. I haven't checked out the features of CS2 that much, but I'm guessing since you're using PS6, you'll get a lot of goodies making that jump. I'd say the jump from PS6 to CS2 is probably worth it - that's a 3 version jump.

But then, it all depends on what you use Photoshop for in the first place.

I believe the painting tools have vastly improved. I hear things about the "heal tool", which I've never used but I guess it's a 'better' version of the clone tool for doing certain things. It's possible there have been more improvments to the text tool, but I haven't the app to compare. I guess some people like the layer folders and I guess now you can put folders into folders for better organization. I'm sure there are all sorts of tweeks everywhere that I've just seen happen over time, but it's quite possible going from PS6 to CS2 you'll see lots of change.

Unfortunately Photoshop is almost in one of those "no choice" categories. I have honestly tried almost all the other "choices" besides Photoshop and nothing seems to properly come close ... so you sorta get stuck in the Adobe upgrade cycle.

But really, for flexability, it has pretty much everything beat ... as far as "general" use.

If all you do is crop, change levels and add some type sometimes ... PS6 is basically what you need and there really isn't much need for anything more than to stay current. But if you're exploring other advanced features for layers and image manipulation, and upgrade is probably in order.