spdif vs toslink

Ntscdan, they'll probably give you a refurbished iPod.

I've had very good experiences with RME audio cards. Their 96 Series offers AES/EBU balanced outputs and goes for about $400. I think it's the best way to go, but might want to try the glass optical cable first.

I totally agree that iTunes is a very slick piece of software. I use it as the centerpiece of my digtial audio setup (Apple G5 with 650 Gb of storage - about 16,000 songs).

Thanks for the card link...16,000 songs! What kind of music are you listening to?...a bit of everything I guess.
Maybe I am missing something! For me its jazz and mostly 60s soul/r&b...and a very selective amount of "classic" country from my teenage days in radio...but that's another post...

Here's a link to a thread about my music collection. CLICK HERE. It's a little eclectic, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

As far as 60s soul goes one of my favorites is Major Lance. Not much recorded output, but a lot of great songs by Curtis Mayfield and equally great production from Johnny Pate.