Jrhoffman75 explained it well.

Although Lightroom Classic can be used as it has been for many years, Adobe has evolved their products in to an "ecosystem" to include photographers that use the internet and social media as part of their work. The best course I've found is "Learning the Lightroom Ecosystem" on Linda.com. https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-the-lightroom-ecosystem/the-power-of-the-lightroom-ecosystem?autoplay=true (Free through many public library systems).

"The claimed feature to use another drive doesn’t work"....It is common with Lightroom Classic to store photo files across multiple drives. Installing the program and catalog on external drives is not a good practice.

"The catalog I put on the CC version overfilled the 20GB storage"..... The 'catalog' is a file on a local PC. The 'cloud' Lightroom does not use a catalog.

"I’m interested in what others are doing about this choice.".... I've worked out a system where my primary storage is in Classic on my computer. Then selected favorites are in a collection that stays "synced" with (cloud) Lightroom. Versions of the (cloud) Lightroom are installed on my Android phone and Android tablet. Rather than calling them 'clunky', I would say they are "streamlined".

With the interconnected Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, Lightroom Android on my phone and Lightroom Android on my tablet, I can show favorite images in a variety of ways including a "Portfolio". I can also shoot pictures with my phone (within its limits) and have them sync into my computer installed Classic.

There is a link to my portfolio in my signature below. It is driven and managed from within Classic.

I have Lightroom Classic on my desktop, as well as Lightroom CC. I also have iOS Lightroom CC on my iPad and iPhone. I am still fine tuning my workflow, but my prime goal is to use to get the photos/videos I take with my iPhone into Lightroom Classic on my PC. I want to do this without exceeding the 20 Gb free storage limit. My approach is to delete the photos from the cloud and the mobile devices, once they have been imported to Classic.

Like I said, I am still working on the details, but so far the overall approach seems to work.

I finally succombed to Adobe’s subscription. I have used Lightroom since 4 and CS6.

I had some installation issues apparantly caused by my full hard drive. The claimed feature to use another drive doesn’t work, and I made the mistake of starting with CC. After uninstalling the old software, which I was reluctant to do, the installations worked. The catalog I put on the CC version overfilled the 20GB storage they give you. Of course they offer more by doubling the price. I’m declining that.

I thought I could use the same catalog on CC and classic. But apparantly not. While I’d like to access images from my ipad, the CC version is incredibly clunky.

I’m interested in what others are doing about this choice.

I use the workflow similar to what is described by a few here.
*My primary workstation is a mac, with Lightroom Classic, PS, and my photos on external drives.
*My secondary workstations are a laptop and an ipad with Lightroom CC. The laptop also has PS.
*I have a Collection folder that gathers the images I take when using the ipad or laptop, and syncs them into LR Classic, copying them onto the designated hard drive with all my other images and entering them into the main catalog with edits.
*When I get home, I turn on my main computer, open LR on both it and the mobile device, and let them do their thing while I do laundry. It sometimes takes a while.
*Once I'm done with a trip, and everything is safely in place, I delete the images from the LRCC catalog to free up my 20 gig Adobe cloudspace.
*I also delete them from Apple Photos which will, if left unattended, make extra copies I don't want and fill up my icloud. If anyone has learned a way to use LRCC while bypassing Apple Photos altogether, I'd love to know it.
*If I am on a longer trip and exceed the Adobe cloud space or perhaps I was out of range of any online service to access the cloud, the extra images will still load into LRCC on the mobile device but can't sync. When I get home and clear some cloud space, those will copy to my LR Classic system on the desktop as well. I leave the images on the camera cards as a secondary (or tertiary) backup.

I have Lightroom Classic on my desktop, as well as Lightroom CC. I also have iOS Lightroom CC on my iPad and iPhone. I am still fine tuning my workflow, but my prime goal is to use to get the photos/videos I take with my iPhone into Lightroom Classic on my PC. I want to do this without exceeding the 20 Gb free storage limit. My approach is to delete the photos from the cloud and the mobile devices, once they have been imported to Classic.

Like I said, I am still working on the details, but so far the overall approach seems to work.

I finally succombed to Adobe’s subscription. I have used Lightroom since 4 and CS6.

I had some installation issues apparantly caused by my full hard drive. The claimed feature to use another drive doesn’t work, and I made the mistake of starting with CC. After uninstalling the old software, which I was reluctant to do, the installations worked. The catalog I put on the CC version overfilled the 20GB storage they give you. Of course they offer more by doubling the price. I’m declining that.

I thought I could use the same catalog on CC and classic. But apparantly not. While I’d like to access images from my ipad, the CC version is incredibly clunky.

I’m interested in what others are doing about this choice.