With respect to getting the images out of Accordance, I saw no loss in quality using either copy/paste or Save as Jpeg.

As for the value of the Accordance edition, I think you'll find that Accordance makes it extremely easy to browse and search the entire collection. The text of each PowerPoint slide description is included with each image, so you can easily find images by a variety of search criteria, or just browse the photos and read about what you're looking at.

Hope this helps.

1) The standard edition of these images is delivered on 2 DVDS - this release is 1.4 GBs. This makes it sound as if much picture quality was lost in this process, even if taking into account any included powerpoints on the dvds.

2) When you save one of these pictures from acc. will it then save the original JPEG file or would it be a "remade" and re-compressed picture with additional artifacts?

Considering that the acc. edition is 50$  more than the raw images, this would be a really steep price just for the convenience of having them in accordance,if it also comes with these problems.