Thanks, so much to all of your replies. I especially want to thank Scott Yee and technicsplayer for your input. Scott, I appreciate the links you have posted for me. This is something I will have to think long and hard as to my decision. With all the possibilities of professional recording on the PC, (not a Mac or laptop) it does make me want to lean in this direction. On the other hand, there is acoustics to consider for vocals and what about being able to use a compressor/limiter. A compressor/limiter is one of the most useful and necessary pieces of equipment (MAJOR) you can own if you are putting out music with vocals. It controls your vocal signal from flying all over the map for your final mix. In the past, I used this only on vocals and not the music - I could get the punch I wanted for the music using the Mackie mixer. So, with this - How does it play into using a PC for my music production? Also, this ties up the computer for business I do on the net. Perhaps I could do post production work with the PC, especially when it comes time for burning the CD. Questions, questions! Thinking, thinking!

If I should decide to go with say, the Roland VS880, how well does this record vocals? Is it as good a sound as recording analog? We all know and have heard how "warm" analog is. If I read correctly at one time, this unit has its own built-in mixer so I would not be using the Mackie - right? Does this unit have a digital out that could go into my dat recorder or PC?

Scott, with the CD software that is available, I am assuming one will be able to not only time the songs but more importantly, number them as commercial CDs are produced. I could be wrong, but on the earlier CD recorders, you recorded from beginning to end with pauses in between songs - they were not numbered to take in the possibility of random play when playing in your CD player.

Scott, I have been using a Beyer M500, which is a dynamic mic. How does this compare to your AKG C3000? A lot, I guess, or you wouldn't be recommending a 'condenser type' mic.

All your replies are much appreciated.