My computer has AC'97 on board sound For the longest time, I wondered WHY my recordings sounded like crap and had no "stereo advantage" -- I looked real closely at Audacity and realized that both L and R channels were EXACTLY the same...so I did an ol' switcheroo in back, so now I encode through my line in instead of mic in, which I think only picks up one channel. The problem is, the nature of some of my recordings (moving vehicles) requires that I use my pre-amp in "-20db" mode because every bump overloads my mics (I think that's the problem). If this damned device didn't always jump into auto rec level every time I hit stop, it wouldn't be so bad, but I just can't be bothered fumbling with all the buttonry to get back in manual and pick an appropriate sound level. Also, the suggested RS volume attenuator does no good (*flushes $7 down the drain). I'm really talking about two separate problems now, but the one I want to solve first is getting a better sound card. Later on, I'll post audio samples of what happens with bumps and see if anyone can help, but the solution to that problem would probably need a new sound card anyway.