I used to be of the opinion "if it makes a sound then thats all I need" but now since I discovered the soundblaster live! that has all changed. There are so many things you can do with it, and although I don't use all the features, at some point I think I may.

My main reason for buying the card was for the digital output, since I thought I could connnect it to my mini disc digitally. Unfortunately I discovered that what I thought was an optical out was actually an dolby digital out for electrical connection to amps.

So even though it turned out I bought the card for something it didn't even have, it became apparent that I had got something quite special. For starters there are outputs for Four speakers (+ that digital out) so I can have surround sound when I watch my dvd movies.

The card is powered by a EMU10K1 chip which can add all lots of environmental and physical effects to the sound output. This is completely independant of and program so you could make James Bond sound like a chipmunk in a swimming pool (seriously!)

I intend to buy a Soundblaster live Platinum at some point since it does have the optical outputs I want. The Value version is not upgradeable to the platinum version due to various unknow reasons from creative. But overall this is a very worthwhile card, which can do everything that the average home computer user wants, if you want to use it for composing music I recommend the Platinum version with the midi ports at the front of the computer (comes with a breakout box)

For playing movies, music and games this card is perfect.