Do either iPhoto or Aperture allow me to keep my photo files in a quite "normal" directory structure?

Question

I would like to switch from picasa to iphoto or aperture. However, I have heard (and googled) that, to some degree, these programs don't keep your photos as normal photo files in your drive's directory structure, but, rather, store them in an odd, specific kind of bundle. And, so for instance, if that bundle gets corrupted, the whole pile gets lost. Also, if I want to just go and grab one JPG file as a regular file, it's perhaps hard to go get it. So, (1) Am I wrong -- does either or both of those store photos in a way that is virtually the same as "regular old directories" I can dig into? (2) If your answer involves me making specific configurations in the program, are there downsides to choosing that "non-standard" configuration? (3) any quick word on the difference between iPhoto and Aperture with regards to the files directory question?

HUGE THANKS for any thoughts --

Answer 1

This exact thing stopped me from using Aperture and Lightroom for some time as that's all I could see it doing, but a bit of research showed that thankfully this was not the only way!

Above, you can see the options for where to store the photos you're importing. You can put them into the library (default), leave them alone, move them to the Pictures folder or one if it's sub folders. The final option lets you choose where they go. I actually put them into a Google Drive folder which syncs automatically.

Now under that, there's the option to Move Files or Copy Files. Quite self explanatory, but it will either move the files to the location you've specified (so there's only one copy of the file) or copy them (there will be two copies of the file, one in the old location and one in the new).

Finally, the last drop down allows you to choose how the files are then organised. Plenty of options as you can see.