Joe, find out if Windows 7 will support MIDI and other music needs. I'm hearing rumors that Microsoft is going to stop using MIDI.

In my experience, techies know almost nothing about computers and music, so do your own research.

A true story: My computer had hundreds of MIDI files on it when it went into the shop to repair the ON/OFF switch. When I picked it up, it was a totally different computer, and no data had been backed up. Fortunately, my old computer had red & blue plastic letters on it to identify the drives. The manager dug around in the trash, spotted the one with red & blue plastic letters on it, and saved all my data, including the music.

Right away I put plastic letters on my new computer. (It says '2004' to discourage burglars.)