I think the Firepod comes with cubase...depends on what you need, but that's a solid program. You can't use it with Pro Tools, because all their stuff is proprietary. Check out mackie traction for ease of use, or Audacity for a free editing tool/recordingmix.

Anything other than ProTools will it record........unless you already have a protools interface I believe you can use the firepod in conjunction with an 002 or 001 or HD system...don't quote me on that though I may be wrong

Pro Tools is pretty hyped anyway...I'm not a big fan.

Try Audacity. It's free, gives you an idea of what it's like to multi-track, and then download the Cubase, Sonar, Cakewalk, Traktion, etc. Demos and see what works best for you. I think a lot of it's a matter of taste.

I would stay away from cheap plug-ins. Most of them sound cheap, and you'll end up getting thin, over-processed sounds. Unless that's what you really want...

It's not necessarily the program that's hyped, it's the Pre's and the hardware that make protools sound wonderful....that's my opinion anyway

I think protools is great for mixing and editing, but that the hardware is just ridiculously overpriced for what you get. LE software with a controller that has 8 faders for $2,500?

Seems kind of lame to me anyway.