A basic soundcard is an internal card for your computer that generates sounds with music and games. A good soundcard allows you to record music to your hard drive with excellent quality. A poor soundcard copies sound about as well as a "normal cassette tape. A good soundcard records crystal clear music with great dynamic range. Soundcards can have multiple inputs and outputs so that you can record 8, 16 or perhaps 24 seperate tracks at the same time. A "digital audio" card can transfer sounds digitally from one device to another with no loss whatsoever. (i.e. from a DAT tape player or an ADAT machine. (Also see S/PDIF and ADAT Lightpipe. Some soundcards have high quality GM sound sets and sampling capabilites.