shodan

i have a soundblaster live! with an spdif jack on it, and a sharp md-mt180 md-recorder, which has a jack labelled 'optical/line in'. if i buy an optical cable with 3.5mm jacks on both ends and try to record thru that, will it work? :?: a friend of mine insists that i need a digital-to-optical converter, but im not convinced because the manual for the mt180 uses the words 'optical' and 'digital' interchangeably. :? please help!!

what is the advantage of recording with the optical link? --lionel

i recently bought a sharp md-mt180 without realising that there was no mic jack in it, however i know that i can buy a pre-amplified mic to overcome that. my question is, would dicksmith diy au$10 preamp kit do the trick? if not, what sort of cost am i looking at for a preamp mic and which one/s in particular? also: what is a battery pack and what does it do? generally i want to be able to record conversations, lectures, me practising my clarinet, etc --lionel (pardon my ignorance, im relatively new to the md world)