Having gone through my own internal struggle to decide whether I should purchase the Tascam Porta02 vs
the Fostex MR-8, let me say that I am VERY glad that I chose the Fostex.
Santa was nice to me yesterday and left me a brand new Fostex MR-8 under the tree.
I have been playing with it since. The gear is easy to use and the manual book is fairly comphrensive.
With respect to uploading to a PC, I have not tried it on my computer yet. But many others on this Board have mentioned that it is only compatiable with Windows 2000 or XE or higher. I have a WIN98, so I'm not sure whether it's going to work on mine. In any case, I believe there are other alternatives to upload the flash card to the PC.
My recommendation is to trade-in the Porta02 and get yourself the Fostex MR-8. My main reasons:
1) good value for the price
2) easy to use (I'm also a newbie to home recording)
3) good sound quality
4) built-in effects are a plus (as a newbie, I don't want to spend another few hundred dollars on an effects processor)
5) much more functions, therefore, you won't "out-grow" it in a few months.
Overall, I'd say go for the Red!
KF