1500 or so seems very reasonable, even a little more, to not have to fuck with dds tapes, misloads, misread "a time", not to mention paying for media. If it turns out to be a reliable unit that will capture a w/s no problem, and I can turn around and drop to cdr and/or dat. However, therein is the problem. What's the long term archive/storage media that is also 24 bit? Sure as hell not the computer h/d, not dvd-r because of durability issues, not cdr because it's 16, and if you wind up deciding that dat or dds is STILL the most reliable of a shaky field of archival options, wtf is the point? Until a stable 24 bit archival option arrives, think I'll stick with the portadat. Plus, used portable dat decks are going to get awfully cheap.