[gtaus]

I just got my Zoom HD16CD last week, so I'm no expert on the unit. However, I don't see anywhere that you can record directly to your computer via the USB cable (ref. manual page 161). To me, it's not an issue. I'd rather record directly to the HD16CD and then transfer the wav files later to the computer for additional work.

I also have a PreSonus FP-10 which is just an interface and is designed to send up to 8 simultanous tracks for recording on the computer via Firewire. I can daisy chain up to 3 units and get about 24 tracks at once. However, I've had a belly full of computer problems and decided to get the Zoom HD16CD so I can get back to recording instead of programming. I really like the stand alone feature of the Zoom, so I'll be happy to transfer the files to my computer whenever I need. To me, the Zoom is the best of both worlds with the ability to record by itself and also to work with the wav files on the computer for other effects if I want.

As for recording on SD cards, the Zoom has an 80 GB harddrive (250 hours), which is much larger than any SD cards I have seen. I won't knock recording to memory cards. My GNX4 has a Compact Flash card for recording and it works flawlessly. However, the GNX4 is limited to a 2 GB CF card which is 6.5 hours total recording time on that machine. I can't see myself recording 250 hours of anything in the near future, but each gig we play will be 8 tracks X 4 hours or 32 hours of track recording. So any memory card machine I would consider would have to be able to record at least that much time for my purposes.

No matter what you buy, it seems that in a month or two something better, cheaper, is on the market. Good luck.