Well, Q, the computer I bought last week for $479 is about the same as the one I bought a year ago for $700 (last year's computer was Intel, this year's was AMD). Both have good sound, and both have 1-terabyte hard drives. I keep my music collection on the hard drive, and I get terrific sound through my 5.1 channel sound system.
I found it best to partition the hard drive (very easy with Windows 7). I keep my music and data on the second partition.

-Joe-