My first DAW was Power Tracks by PG Music. Maybe it was version 6 or 7. I don't remember. The main thing I liked most was the Fly-By Hints. These helped my learning curve greatly. Along the way I updated to version 10. Although the program is considered limited compared to other DAWs its the simplicity of it that helped me get a good understanding of the basic process and terminology.
I tend to take recording breaks for many months or even a year here and there as I get involved with live music projects. Then I get back to recording.
A few years ago I started doing more recording and found PT wasn't cutting it for me. I was ready for more. I tried Sonar LE, Traktion, n-Track Studio, Music Creator 7, Cakewalk and Reaper. I stuck with Reaper.
Some of my favorite things about Reaper. (in no specific order)
* Kenny Gioia videos are very simple for me to find and grasp a task I want to attempt. Usually 10 - 15 minutes or less on any one task and I've got it learnt.
* Stable as an old oak tree. I have never, ever, ever had a lock up or crash that was a fault of Reaper itself. Overtaxed my RAM a couple of times though. That was my fault.
* It comes with very good and extensive plugins.
* Each and every plugin, including mostly free third party plugins, have worked with no issues at all. (I stick with VST, VST3, VSTi, DX and DXi. I do not install RTAS or AAX versions)
* The screen is easy to see and throwing random colors on the tracks improves this even further.
* $60
* Has a professional appearance so when friends/musicians come over they are impressed.
* So far it has been able to accomplish every audio task and even some video tasks I want.
* Many keyboard short-cut save time once learned.
* Easy, built in file directory cleaner. (as long as I have my project properly set up to save orderly into a project folder)
* The Reaper forum itself is rather helpful and friendly but I don't use it often because most of the answers I need I find in a Kenny Gioia video.

Does the noise in your head bother me ?