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The Sound Blaster Live! Platinum takes an award-winning sound card, adds a frontal drive bay with audio in/out jacks, and bundles in a gold mine of audio and gaming software. Unless you already own the SB Live!, it's the perfect audio combo for anyone who uses their PC for sampling, MP3 recording or watching DVD movies.
Setup is simple. Install the Live! card in a PCI slot and the Live! Drive in an empty 5.25-inch bay. (If you don't have an empty drive bay, do NOT buy this product.) Then connect both wires from the drive to the Live! card.
And you're all set. You can now plug in your headphones, microphones, MIDI instruments, and your home stereo conveniently into the front of your PC.
The Live! card itself is one of the best sound cards around. You get the EMU10k1 audio processor-- an audio chip so powerful it handles the entire audio load so your CPU doesn't have to. And you get 3D audio support, multi-channel support, and 512 voices for ultra crisp clarity.
(Of course, if you already own the Sound Blaster Live!, you may not want to spend $200 just to get the front-loading Live! Drive.)
And then there's this huge bundle of software included: incredible audio applications like the Mixman Studio, Creative Digit Audio Center, Sound Forge XP, and Lava!, as well as top-notch games like Descent 3, Need for Speed: High Stakes, and Thief: The Dark Project.
At the end of the day, the Live! Platinum is the optimum solution for someone looking to upgrade to Creative's Live! Card. The audio quality is solid, and the Live! Drive is a godsend, and it won't cost you much more than the normal, non-drive Live! Card does. It's the perfect package for the audiophile in you.-- Nash Werner / GamePro
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