Before anyone can help you, you need to let us know how many inputs you need - like how many instruments will you be recording at once. Whether it's just you a track-at-a-time, or if you'll be recording a full band or somewhere in between.
Next, you'll have to let us know what else you've got in terms of mixers, preamps and the like. Do you already own a mixer or any outboard pres?
And some general idea of how much you're willing to spend might be nice, too.
Generally speaking, you can usually find a good card at a good price point from M-audio with the amount of inputs you need. If you don't have a mixer and don't want one, then you should take a look at something like the Aardvark, which has preamps built in to the card.
If money is no object, and you simply want the best possible sound, you could always check out the Lynx two.
As far as the software goes, you might also want to let us know if you will be doing any midi. Actually, the best thing to do as far as the software goes is to download the trial versions and see which one(s) you like. I personally own Cool Edit Pro, but I think it is the devil come down to punish me for all my wrongdoings, while others think it's the savior come down to bring joy and happiness to the masses.
N-tracks is the best value for the money, so it's a no-brainer if you find it runs stable on your system and you find it does the things you need it to do upon using the trial version.
In the end, most of them are pretty comparable in terms of quality, so it's more about which one you find appealing, easy to work with, and has the features you need.
