Thank you all very much for the help and suggestions. I had pretty much come to the same conclusion as WLD (not to be confused with weapons of little destruction?) in the last post - ie to get something, get used to it, learn its pluses and limitations and then review things a bit into the future in the light of whether we are getting to play anywhere and resell what I don't want back on ebay.

The studiomaster went for £160 I see and I am currently looking at another very similar spec one having now got some feel for price.

Thanks again - I'll let you know how I get on once I have bought one and then everyone can tell me "I told you so!" :)