Sounded cool and wasn't already the name of anything else.

Ha, no.

Although this is but a small part of the impact of teh internets on the music industry, I think that an important aspect is the newfound ability for amateurs to develop networks of fans, peers, and fellow musicians to help him/her improve as an artist.

Uh, as if they'd take me.

December 10, 2005 - I get Finale NotePad 2006, and I start composing.

KaW (KaW, Smiley, and Inspector K), The Red Rebel, Digital Explosion, Evolution, Filo Bedo, Naoki Maeda, DJ Taka, TaQ, Helix Eternal, DM Ashura, W1p3out/Wip'E"Out, Zephyr Nova, T2Kazuya, Kriminal Klub, Keith Spillman, Nobuo Uematsu, Noriyuki Iwadare, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Vivaldi.
Most important: Digital Explosion, Helix Eternal, Noriyuki Iwadare, The Red Rebel, Smiley, Zephyr Nova.

Big Al's, Vancouver, WA

HARDWARE:
Computer: Yes.
SoundCard: Standard, nothing special yet.
Speakers: Coby CV320 Headphones (I rarely use my cheap Cyber Acoustics speakers, due to inaudible bass)
Microphone: Cyber Acoustics CVL-1064
Korg TR-61 Keyboard Sampler

SOFTWARE:
Finale PrintMusic; SmartMusic SoftSynth (it's a soundfont)
ACID Pro 6.0 <-------- VWOOT!!!
ACID XPress (it's simple, but I might use it from time to time)
Windows Sound Recorder
I can almost do the basics in Audacity, but no good effects like phaser or wah-wah
Hopefully I'll learn to use Fruity Loops soon
Cakewalk HomeStudio 2002 sometime in the future...
Buzz some other time in the future...

VSTi:
z3ta+ (go figure), Vanguard, Superwave, Albino, String Studio, sfz, the Fruity Loops one, etc...

(Impressive, huh?)