You could use the 003 with Reaper as well. Reaper doesn't care. It's only Protools that cares what the interface is.

If you're accustomed to ProTools, you might find Reaper a bit disappointing. I would look into another DAW. Even Cubase 5 Essentials might seem a bit closer. Reaper is great for the money but I don't personally think it keeps up to the other DAWS. That's just my opinion though.

Reaper has a free to use trial....I believe 30 days full use. I would give it a try and see what you think
I currently use Cubase 4 which I know pretty well and I've used Sonar which was OK...but I've never tried PT.
I still prefer Cubase but Reaper was fine...I didn't really think it was any better or worse, a little different in terms of setup, selections etc...It really comes down to trying the different versions and seeing which one you're more comfortable with..

Thank you all for your inputs.

After a couple of days trying out Reaper, I must say I'm not too comfortable with it, even if I customized the thing to make it more Pro Tools-like...

I think if I were to start using a DAW for the first time now, I'd use Reaper. But being used to the easiness of the PT interface, I'll stick to those crooks at Digidesign.

Miczka, post: 298550 wrote: the easiness of the PT interface

Somebody please tell me what menu has this option. It's been disabled on every PT setup I've used.

I researched all the possiblities for using a PC with Pro tools and came to the conclusion for the money iMac was the best choice for me. So I bought the iMAC and an Mbox( comes with Pro tools). This seems to work for me. Just my opion. I am not a professional just more like an beginer.