John,

That Creative Labs audio card is going to be an issue for Ubuntu Studio. Drivers exist; they are a work-around, but functional.
If nothing of major value is stored on your laptop harddrive, my preference would be to nuke Ubuntu Desktop when you install Ubuntu Studio. Their web-related tools are identical.
Choose Ubuntu Studio version 8.04, install, and then download all available updates - before using the O/S. Install LAME from the repository. You will now be working with the JACK audio connection kit, and it is a real brain-twister.

Another option is to keep Ubuntu Desktop, and install the audio Applications that work without JACK and the real-time kernel. Audacity and the Hydrogen percussion sequencer are two examples. This would be my choice, unless you are feeling particularly cocky...


just looking for clues...
Oren.
http://www.masteringmatters.com