PCI Card vs. IMic Input, Music & Audio Hardware Options

I do video but I'm new to the world of audio.  I have a sweet but new g4 system that I use for video editing and I want to start digitially recording audio.  There's no audio-in port, only USB.  I was told I should get a PCI card - they recommended th Audiophile 24/96 (which, I can't figure out whether I need to also buy the Co2 box for converting betwen RCA and Optical digital formats). I'm going to test out a Sony pcm-m1 DAT recorder and I know that the digital feed requires a 7-pin cable (that needs to connect to the PCI card via coax plugs).  However, a friend of mine told me to think abou buying an iMic adapter and just putting the DAT in via analog plugs -- that it doesn't make a bad transfer.  Any thoughts, anybody?  And any other advice -- things I'm not thinking of?  Oh...I'm going to put the audio into Final Cut Pro.

[Synthetic]

Well keeping your signal digital would be the ultimate idea to keep your sound clean but, if you use a good quality digital to analog converter... then you may not notice a difference if using analog input. I suggest looking at the new Focusright Mbox that comes with ProTools LE. Its a really nice audio interface that uses USB to connect. The other audio card you mentioned will work but will need to purchase an audio app such as Logic, Digital Performer, Cubase etc. to make the most of it. If you use DAT a lot though.... I would look for an interface that offers digital inputs however the digital connection you spoke of is new to me so not sure how easy it would be to use that type of connection. Most audio pros use either optical connections or SPDIF ( I think that is abbreviation) when working with digital signals.

If you are really serious about getting into audio recording... maybe even look at the Mark of the Unicorn 828 and Digital Performer software (which has surround sound mixing capabilities) or maybe the Digi001 that comes with ProTools LE for your audio work. They are a bit more in price but will give you lots of flexibility.