Mbox, M-audio, What!?, Need help deciding Options

[Mangrilla]

I'm new to the forum, and to recording in general. I really want to get something that I can plug into my flatscreen iMac G4 that will allow me to record vox, guitar/bass, and possibly even drums directly into my computer. I also would like this to come with tools to record/master what I do. I went to Guitar center and asked them, and they suggested the M-audio firewire 410, and a friend of mine suggested to me the Digidesign Mbox. Do you all have any suggestions maybe? I have been looking at these two systems and am worried that the M-audio doesn't come with very a very complete editing/mixing/etc. software, but really like the amount of inputs and the fact that it already has a midi solution. Any thoughts, or other suggestions, PLEASE?!!?

[Synthetic]

well... I would say go with Mbox but what system are you running? I have heard there are some issues with the mbox and 10.3 but the Mbox would be able to do all you are asking except that if you record drums.... you might need a mixer if using more than 2 mics to create a stereo submix to send to mbox. Also, you didn't say if you planned on recording this stuff all simultaneously or seperate... you will need a mixer to create a submix of everything if you want to record a band performance for example.

M-audio might come with a cheap recording app but most likely it may not suffice your needs and you might want to spend $$ on Cubase, Nuendo, Logic, etv to use with it.