Ian Cookieless (poor guy) said it well. The Edirol R09 has many different uses and I think the cost is well justified. You can record on it, either as WAV files or MP3s.

The transfer is especially easy if you have a reader for SD cards in your computer - or buy one that plugs into an RSB port for US$15.00 or so. Then you just take the card out of the R09 and put it in the reader, and it becomes just another drive on the computer.

You can also use it at gigs, by running a line from the tape out jacks of your PA to the Edirol input, to hear later what was going out to the audience. It can be embarrassing, but it's good to know.

You can also buy extra cards, put all your favorite music on one, and use the Edirol as an iPod, but with as many different songlists as you want to spend money on cards.

Peter