Depends on what you are going for, but take a look at other sound cards besides the SBLive before making a decision. The Live is a great card for computer games and such, not so great for recording. If you want to just record a few guitar tracks and have some fun, then the Live might be a good choice. If on the other hand you want to start out with a setup that can be expanded to acheive some nice quality recordings, then look at stuff in the Delta, Gadget Labs, Darla, Gina area. Lots of posts here about what cards are available, and the entry level models of these cards won't cost you that much more than the SBLive (especially the Platinum version.) I have recorded my POD through an SBLive card and it's not terrible, it's just not great.
As an alternative for software, you can download n-track and a few other programs for free to start with and see what you like. I've never used the Guitar Tracks 2 software, and don't know anything about it.
Above all, read over the main Homerecording.com page and search through the posts here on the BBS if you already haven't, as that will be one of the best free recording courses you could ever get.
