As compared with high end graphics cards that can now be OVER 500$US, a high quality sound card is only like 79$ now. The best bang for your buck!

Although they created the audigy 2, which is still very cheap, and offers a "few" more features, sound quality is basically the same. So, if you have no need for the THX certified or the 6.1 surround sound, the audigy card will be right for you!

First off, the software is a waste.... there is no need for it. I currently have nothing BUT the driver installed in my computer. If you have to choose between the audigy gamer and mp3, just get what ever is cheaper. Also, if you can find a place that sells the OEM version, thats your best bet, because it will no doubt be cheaper.

As for installing it, flawlessly. Being very computer savey, i had no trouble what so ever. Drivers work fine.
Note: there are some reviews that say they needed to go and edit the BIOS and that the software makes their computer very slow. I have a 3 year old dell with windows XP pro, and have had no problems.

24 bit sound quality RUELS! These produce awosme sound quality even with programs like winamp. I have been listening to my computer now with the audigy sound card using Sennheiser HD590 headphones for over a year. If you demand high quality sound from your computer, this card delivers!

Hope this helps!

Doesn't last long (Rating: 1.00)
Review : I bought this card in May 2002. My operating system is Windows 2000, and I had no problem installing it. However, after using it for 3 weeks, the card died. There was no sound. At first, I thought it was due to corrupted driver, so I tried to reinstall the driver, but the setup software kept saying "No audigy sound card is detected". I've tried downloading new drivers, swapping PCI slots, but nothing worked. At the end, I contacted Creative Support via email. Although I told them that I have already tried swapping slots and downloading latest drivers, the sluggish customer service asked me in their reply to "try downloading latest drivers and swapping PCI slots". These guys never bother to read what you wrote in your email. Anyway, after corresponding with them for over one month (they typically take more than a week to reply each email, using a one-line response), finally one agent told me I had a defective sound card, and authorized an exchange.

Upon receiving the replacement card, everything worked fine. Installation was as easy as the very first time I'd installed it. But yesterday (March 09, 2003), my card died again. Exactly the same problem. The setup program cannot detect the card. It's still under warranty so I will ask for another exchange.

This card has really disappointed me. My previous Creative products all worked very well, but now I must say that the Audigy is really bad in its design. Avoid buying this card by all means.

On drivers, XP, and other such nonsense (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I have had an audigy Platinum EX since right after it came out (it's the same, except for the break-out box), and I agree, the software is horrible. In fact, I threw away the CD's that came with it. The latest downloadable drivers, however, work perfectly on XP pro (and presumably home as well) and aren't bloated at all.

I would recommend this card to anyone who is looking for a high-performance sound card. If you just want something that you can pop in and forget, and you don't care about accurate 3D positioning, or other such bells and whistles, I would suggest something more stable, and cheaper, like the soundblaster Live! value. Or, if you really want to skimp, many new motherboards actually have very good 3D sound onboard. Onboard sound really has a bad rap; but it's come a long way recently, and is actually quite decent for everyday use.

Not as good as I thought it would be (Rating: 3.00)
Review : I bought this card to replace my SB live card (which I loved), which suffered a premature death. The 5.1 is really cool, if you can use it, but I don't have a DVD player and the only AC3 songs I could find were the 2 on the install disk. Maybe the firewire port will come in handy, but for now, I don't need it either.

So in that respect, I don't find this any better than the SB live card, which seemed to have a better mixer. I have maxed out all my inputs (being a musician) so I need the TAD input, but this in not on the mixer. And a can't pan or EAX analog inputs separately.

Other than that it sounds great and I did not have any installation problems with WIN98SE. I wish they would "crowbar" the output when the computer is turned off; the floating inputs to the speaker pick up 60HZ hum and take a long time to turn themselves off.

I won't comment on the included software, I see this has already been done.