What can chessbase 9 do that fritz 12 cannot

The main feature the megadatbase package has that others don't is the photos of players. Also does the reader have the best move feature?

I can open the Playerbase in Chessbase Light, (which is also free to download) and view the photos there. I'm not familiar with the best move feature though.

I may be wrong, but I believe that Chessbase reader is included on the Chessbase Magazine DVD.  I don't think you can download it without purchasing a Chessbase product.

Yes, it comes with some chessbase products like Chessbase Magazine and Fritz Trainer DVDs, but it can also be downloaded free on the Chessbase website: http://www.chessbase.com/download/index.asp

Oh really.  I believe that is new.  I don't think that link was there before.  Thanks for the heads up.

If chessbase light only holds x number of games how do you get the megadatabase on light which holds x+1 games to view the photos while playing the game in database.

There's a freeware alternative to Chessbase database products. It's called SCID. I use it intensively and for my level it does everything I need. I keep it totally up to date updating weekly with TWIC. Around 2,030,000 so far!

I can view the photos, but not while playing the game.

I was looking at the scid and it has some neat screenshots. Can't figure out how to put all the zip parts together though. Would megadatabase work in scid seeing that it is chessbase and not pgn???

SCID has its own format. Similar to Chessbase. They break the database in three files for better performance. SCID doesn´t read chessbase files. You create a yourdatabase.sci and then import a pgn database like Million games. Then update it from TWIC until this week and you will be fine. In the beginning I had some work to do, but today it´s just weekly maintenance.

I found another loophole. Chessbase claims you need Chessbase 10 or 11 to get the games update, but you don't. I went into Chessbase light, and clicked on "Mega Update." This connected me to their server. I entered my serial number, and clicked "download new games" for 2011. Some 70,000+ games were downloaded, (which is like 40,000 over the limit for the free light version) but that doesn't matter. I went into Fritz and opened the database window. I clicked open database, and under the file Chessbase (where you automatically start) I opened the folder "Internet". There are my downloaded games, which I can now add to Mega 2011.

lose (jk)

Neither one of them gives you sweet, delicious toast.

mattattack what version of megadatabase do you have and will the 2009 version update in that manner or am I good to go?

I have Mega 2011, so I can update until December 31, 2011. I asssume with the 2009 version you could update games through 2010. Of course, you could always download the TWIC.

Isn't it the other way around? If you have a .pgn file don't you have to change it to Chessbase format to open it in Fritz?