CME

That's the first time I've ever heard someone say that the sampling rate is related to dynamic range. I was thinking the same thing. Sample rate deals with freq response as mentioned in the post above this. Now you're getting into whether or not the frequencies above our hearing range can be "felt" and whether or not the equipment used to playback/record can actually reproduce these frequencies. This is a whole can of worms unto itself.

I'll also recommending going 24-bit. The bit depth has to do with the dynamic range of the signal. 24-bit has a much greater range and leeway in getting your levels right. Then once the song is mixed ,and usually somewhat compressed, 16-bit has plenty of range for the final product. I personally set the sample rate to whatever I plan on the project ending in to avoid later Sample Rate Conversion. I just make music that'll end up on a cd so I also go 44.1/24-bit.

That's one significant advantage in a new Mac's favor - another one is the ease of setup and configuration - there's little or none of the jumping through hoops that you frequently have to do with a PC, and for those who want to spend more time making music and less dinking around with their computers, that's a serious point of consideration. FWIW I also have XP running on my MacBook Pro. I don't use it much but it's nice to know I have it if I do need it.

Hey this can be a touchy subject. First of all I have used both to some extent. I started out on a PC I built to Digi's specs several years ago. I later bought a Mac Mini to give it a try. Since then I bought a PowerMac G5 and recently bought a Macbook Pro. So I have obviously made the switch. The main reason for me was simply the ease of optimization for a Mac. You make a few clicks and you're done. There's a few little things you do on occasion to keep things flowing. But the PC I built seemed to always have be a bit buggy. Of course I did build it. So keep that in mind too. As far as the RAM addressing goes my understanding is this. 32-bit systems can address up to 4GB of Ram. 64 bit systems can address a much greater amount. Just googled it. A true 64-bit memory limitation is 17.2 billion GB. WOW!!! Anyways PT for Windows only works on 32-bit versions of Windows. So even if you can install more your computer will only use 4 under a 32-bit OS. Mac OSX is 64-bit capable with the right system. Which is any G5 PPC Mac and Intel Macs, except the early models with the Core Duo Processors. The Core 2 Duo is 64-bit. So that seems to be an advantage, but it's not as big as it may seem. Pro Tools itself is only 32-bit. So it itself can only use 4GB. However other programs, such as VI's and maybe plugs, can access ram other than what Pro Tools itself uses. I have 6.5 GB in my PowerMac and with Strike's content size set to no limit, Activity Monitor shows all of my RAM to be allocated. So IMO it's more what you feel comfortable with. If you've never given a Mac a try you might. It convinced me.

I have a creative player and itdoes 24 bit fine. I use a tape adaptor for the car (my vehicle has both tape and CD player). He says so.