Iam a radio announcer that has always used Cool Edit Pro to record on my laptop. I wish to buy a G4 with Final Cut Pro for video editing as I am now making up commercials for television. I still need to record voiceovers for the commercials and I want to know if there is a program that will replace cool Edit Pro on the Mac. Can it be done using FCP? I need to be able to plug in an external mike, and record from a Cd for my backing tracks. Hope you can help.

Should be possible either using FCP or Pro-Tools or something similar. The only trouble is the need to buy a special mic due to the fact that Apple, in their infinate wisdom insisted on changing the input socket to a wierd powered one. Not really sure exactly what it is but it basically requires a 3.5mm type plug that is actually slightly longer than usual. The good news, the mics (or optional converters) only cost about £20-30. Check out the following link to apples official products : http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/ ukstore.woa/935/wo/OVvf61HzaqjsbxxAed/ 0.3.0.3.27.7.0.CoverPageLeftAccessoriesPromo.1 .1.0.3.1.0.17.3.1.1.0

i used a G4 this past week for audio recording and used a normal 1/8" cord and it worked fine... i don't know what you are referring to, tho. but i know that digidesign does have a free version of protools for mac, but if it runs on Mac OS X or not is beyond me. but check out their downloads section at http://www.digidesign.com

Couple ideas ... Adobe Premiere does is all ($$$$$). Or, for audio only, check out BIAS "Peak","Deck" or the bundled "Studio"($$) http://www.bias-inc.com/ *I believe the free Protools from Digidesign is for OS 9 only.