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?!!?

[Ben Up the Tree]

I also use the Tascam US-122 and like it allot. It's much cheaper than the MBox ($185 on ebay New shipped), has MIDI, but has marginal software that comes with it (Cubase for OS9). I use the US-122 with GarageBand ($49) to record vocals/guitar/stereo drums. I have been quite happy with it so far.

The US-122 also sport phantom power, but I have not recorded with a condenser microphone yet.

The latency is almost imperceptible, I use it on a 1ghz G4 Powerbook with an external 7200rpm harddrive.

Tascam US-122 features:

USB power
Two analog inputs and outputs (stereo)
24-bit (44.1 kHz or 48 kHz) input to output path
Separate source selection (MIC/LINE/INST) and gain control per channel
48V phantom power
Hi-Z input for (D.I.) instrument pickup
TRS inserts on each input channel
Balanced/unbalanced connections
Zero-latency direct monitoring
Unbalanced RCA and Headphone outputs with dedicated volume controls
MIDI input and output ports
16-channel MIDI interface