recording on your pc

[bass_extremes]

Hey, everyone Ive been thinking about getting recording and I might be getting a m-audio fasttrack usb. What would be a good recording program(for pc) that isnt that expensive? And my music teacher says that you get alot of hum and stuff from your soundcard in your computer when recording. So what would be a good external sound card to get?

[scourge]

I go through my pod and plug directly into my soundcard and record on Soundforge.
It works great for recording riffs and such, but its not the most high quality sound.