Starting w/Digital but not sure which way?

[PBrown]

I want to get started recording in my home using my computer's CDRW drive to do so. I have been researching all of the pro-level audio card that I can afford(soon afford) like the Aark 20/20, Wave 8/24, and the Core 2 System. At least those are my choices to this point. However lately I have been thinking about getting a digital multitrack, and then sending songs in when complete to the computer for burning. If I go this route I'm not sure if I should go with a minidisk system or a hard drive based mutlitrack. It seems like going the multitrack way is more user friendly, but from what I read from specs, the elaborate soundcard route achieves 20-24 bit conversions, while the multitrack (in my price range are a 16, or minidisc which if I understand correctly are compressed making them less that CD quality. Yuck this can get confusing. My biggest concern with letting the computer do all the work is that I am afraid of crashes, bugs, etc. that make you frustrated to the point where you don't think you could pour piss out of a boot if the directions where on the heel!
Anyway, I don't really know anyone personally that I can ask, so I was hoping to get some advise here from the experienced. What route would you take?

[The Green Hornet]

PBROWN is in town:

Yo! There are some minidisc boxes that do not compress. I have the MD-8 which does a nice job in spite of compression. It is my understanding from reading the trade mags that the Korg box 8 or 16 track, does not compress. That may be for you because I hear the Korg is not too hard to learn. There are some other boxes like Akai and maybe Fostex that don't compress. You need to check out the magazines or get catalogs from the 800 sellers and then check out one that looks promising. The computer stuff does take some time to learn. Maybe ADAT might fit in your budget because there are some great deals out there. [That means that even a better box is on the horizon and the horizon is a short one in electronics.]

Have fun shopping

Green Hornet