Wireless Network & Recording Stuff

[Fluppatron]

Hello,
I'm hoping somebody will share some expertise with me, although not quite a technophobe I'm certainly no expert.
Firstly, I'm setting up a wirless network at home so I can get ADSL access for two laptops and would like to be able to use my H3900 (yes I know it's old) as part of the network for file sharing and for internet access.
My question is, would it be better to use a bluetooth router connected to my ADSL router as my PDA has bluetooth built in, or use a CF plugin card via a CF jacket?
I have not always had good experience with Bluetooth, but it seems that using my CF jacket does nothing for processing speed and battery life.
Any info much appreciated.

Secondly, I found some mp3 recording software in the PPCT shop that mentions being able to use an external input rather than the built in microphone.
Being a bit of a bedroom DJ, I'd like to record my mixes straight to mp3
so would like to be able to use a phono connection from my amp/mixer straight in to my PDA!
Now there's only so many holes in my PDA so can I use a phono-3.5mm jack in the headphone socket?
Or am I being stupid?

Sorry for the length of post, but I've been intending to sort this out for a while


Thanks Again

Flupp

[Don Tolson]

Hi Fluppatron... I'm no expert, but let me provide you with what I know.

a) Wireless netorking -- Bluetooth is really intended as a cable replacement technology -- where two items are 'paired' together as if they had an invisible cable. I'm not sure it's a good match for wireless networking. Better (I think) would be to invest in a 802.11b or g router (they are cheap like borscht these days) and a 802.11 card for your PDA. I don't know what a H3900 is, unless you mean the iPAQ 3900 series.

b) MP3 recording -- yes, in most cases, the headphone jack on a PDA will also act as an INPUT as well as an OUTPUT. As far as recording to MP3 from your amp/mixer you should be OK as long as you watch the volume and the impedance of the output from the mixer. If possible, use the LINE OUT from the mixer/amp, rather than the speaker output. You'll get better control of the output that way. HOWEVER, rather than use your PDA for recording, better would be to use your desktop (if you have one) which probably has a LINE IN jack on the back panel. There's lots of ripping/recording software out there and I think you'll like the results a lot better.