i just got a jb3 and will probably never run analog into it. got the hosa 312 convertor, (thanks ska) aes>optical. karl, you may want to get the hosa that goes spdif>optical, making patching fairly easy. the boxes are ~$65. don't give up on the jb3 yet. listen to me, haven't even used it in the field yet. but, others here have been using them a lot and swear by them. i'll probably only get rid of it, maybe, when the 722 is released as ver.4, once the kinks get ironed out.
yes, flintstone, sony is again forcing a new proprietary product onto the consumer market. remember, they're not thinking of us when they release new products, they're thinking of little joey in high school, downloading all the brit spears he can get his mouse on. the feature set looks pretty cool, but i'd hold off a while before jumping into the pool.
my .02 been wrong before, many times
jr