Probably the biggest plus for me over programs such as Windows Movie Maker was the ability to have multiple video and audio tracks, just like Premiere. But other than the storyline, and some of the keyboard shortcuts, the UI was quite different than Premiere.

Reflecting the different target audiences, Elements is much more consumer-focused. A window on the top right contains tabs with transitions, imported media, and edited media, as well as pre-set themes and a publishing tool, including the ability to upload video directly to YouTube. I found the pre-set themes a bit cheesy, and stuck with designing my own basic titles.

Editing clips is different with Elements. Rather than a main window and a clip preview window, Elements just has the main window. Clicking a clip opens a pop-up window for setting the in and out for the clip, which can then be dragged onto the timeline. I found it easier to just edit my clips on the timeline itself.

While Premiere Elements lacks some of the horsepower and advanced features of Premiere, for my purposes (creating short Web-based videos) there was nothing I needed Elements to do that it couldn't. Unless you're producing for broadcast, Premiere Elements will get most jobs done.