Yeah, I've noticed a lot of changes for the worse at CNN, like that stupid "news ticker" thing at the bottom of the screen, and a very pronounced "sensationalist" leaning that's as bad as local news. AOL is going down the toilet evidently, and taking a lot of good companies along with it.

If you are considering doing any type of recording, I would definately go the direct to hard disc route. The DAT format is good, but like all such data tape formats, tapes become unplayable with time, or on different machines. With a computer, it's easy to edit, as you already know, and burning ad CD from your mix is very easy and quick. The Digidesign ProTools system is kind of the de facto standard in the movie post and music recording industries. You can actually get a limited 8 track version of the program free, for either the Macintosh of Windows. You just need a reasonable hard disc (the internal one is good for most work), and your outboard equipment. You can do mixes completely in the digital enviornment, or route the tracks through your Soundcraft for mixing. They have systems all the way from the software only, which uses your computer sound card, up to systems like mine with multiple channels etc. I don't think they have an adapter to mount the system on your bike, however Here's their web site. Navigate to "ProTools Free" and go from there

http://www.digidesign.com/

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The Soundhound Theater