Writing about Aperture’s managed libraries, Schloss warns, “The idea is that a hiccup on the hard drive might make the file unreadable, and the images would be stuck inside the Library forever.”

I think this is mistaken. The icon for a managed library is just a “package,” a kind of glorified folder that follows special system rules.

Control click on a managed library and you’re given the option to Show Package Contents, and inside the package is a folder called Masters. All the original master image files are there, arranged by year, month, day, and shooting session.

Correct me if I’m wrong: a corruption on the hard drive isn’t any more likely to make the entire library package inaccessible than if a corruption made a folder’s contents inaccessible. They’re equally low-risk.

My take: if it suits your working style, don’t fear the managed library.

I would also have left my comment on the Digital Photo Pro site with the article – except that site doesn’t allow comments. Sigh.