I agree about the Aulos recorders. They are definitely a good value for the price. I don't know about the other brands, because I haven't played them.

A couple of months ago I bought a recorder and became addicted. I've got a soprano (treble), an alto (descant), and a sopranino and I am sorely tempted to buy a tenor. Then I could be a whole recorder ensemble all by myself, if I could just fit them all into my mouth.

It's only taken a couple of weeks to learn the fingerings pretty well and I can sightread on both the C and F instruments without too much hesitation, although I haven't got stuck in learning the alternative fingerings and trills yet.

I've bought some recorder music, but have just mostly been playing from my various song books. I find that they mostly go too low for the soprano, but I can play most things on the alto.