What photo-editing program/suite do you recommend?

[hodgie]

I need to buy some photo-editing software because the previous program i had, photoshop cs2, was on my old computer, given to me by an "internet friend". i found photoshop complex and hard to use, and i'm very good with computers so it's not as if it's a literacy problem. i was hoping someone could tell me what is the easiest and straightforward program to use. prices would be good too... thanks