Hi Mike,
I'm sorry, but I (partly) disagree with you about Ableton Live. It can be a an amazing tool for composing if you are in doubt about how to build your song - like where should the different parts (verses, bridge, chorus, solos) be and in what order, because you can easily audition the different possibilities in Ableton by using the exact same tools as DJ's would use in a live situation.
I found a lot of inspiration by moving parts of a composition around to see what new sonic/inspiring things would happen. That's quicker to do in Ableton than in BiaB.
I hope I make sense (not sure about that).
Will
Yes i hear what you say and I agree, it is a powerful tool in fact I have 8 lite and have used it..
I just thought that the multi column layout and work flow so different to a normal linear DAW that it might be a bit much for a new daw user.
Mike