I was going to download it off their site but before I go through the trouble of that I thought I would ask you all if you have used it and if it is easy to use or do you need a PHD? Also being what some seem to consider the industry standard is it all what it is cracked up to be? And last but not least how do you go about connecting your gear up to it? Much appreciated.

First make sure your computer and operating system fit their compatibility list (see their website). PT Free is very picky and won't run on non-intel cpu's or anything other than Win98.
It's not very powerful and I don't like it's user interface very much - looks more like a sketch version to me.
On a PC it can't compete with Cubase or other apps, but it's for free, right?
There's a 'inofficially patched' version out there that has better memory management (more audio and midi tracks available) and can use commercial plugins that can't be used with the original version.
If you can't afford apps like Cubase, Nuendo, Cakewalk or Logic Audio, it's better than nothing...

You don't know where this patched version is do you if so could you email it to me.
I'm currently running a PentiumIII 1gig, 128ram, Sound Blaster Live sound card and windows 98 and the Free part of the whole thing is what takes my fancy so I don't expect much of it but only that it can be used to a certain extent.

so it wont run with Athon CPUs? damn ...

This program is real picky about what system it's running on apparently. My system met all the guidlines (pentium lll, 128 ram, though it says it works best with at least 192) but it didn't work. I then read it doesn't work on some HP pavillions, which is what it has. I like Cool Edit Pro which isn't free unless you....ahem....have a cracked version. It costs like $300 or $400 if not which is alot but it's good IMO but I haven't tried others in the same price range.

Originally posted by FretGrinder
so it wont run with Athon CPUs? damn ...
I have Cakewalk, Cubase, soundforge, wavelab etc. Unless you have pro-tools for Mac with the hardware interface, you are not missing anything. The free version is really quite bad compared to most of the for PC audio editors. I tried to run it on a pIII with 384 MB ECC Ram(so you know it's not my system), it still sucked, latency was horrible.