It may be too obvious to mention but you may want to try a LiveCD first - it'll allow you to drip-test your system w/o borking your data.

Can I install addition apps with a live CD though?

Reading through this thread and looking around a bit more, I think I wanna try Kubuntu 9.10. After doing a bit of reading last night, I'm reminded why I gave up on Linux last time. I'm not nearly nerdy enough to be fiddling with command line crap just to listen to mp3s. I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg. Oh well, can't be put off just yet.

With (K)Ubuntu it's easy. Just whack open the "Ubuntu Software Centre" and install "Kubuntu/Ubuntu restricted extras", depending on whether you're running Kubuntu or Ubuntu. That'll take care of your MP3 playback.

Also, I believe Amarok asks if you want the appropriate codecs automatically installed these days. Try to play an MP3 and it should ask.

You'll find that 99% of what you need to do can be done using some GUI. However, seasoned users often find that the GUI doesn't offer them the same flexibility or speed as the command line, so you'll find that when asking for help, many users will tell you what they know, and that's the command line...

Thanks guys. Trying to remain motivated.

I've literally just installed Xubuntu 9.10 and it's awesome!

Do it!

Ok, ok!

Quickie though - I've chosen Kubuntu because the Amarok thing I suppose. But does it really make any difference which variant I go for?

I see that Xubuntu is slimmed-down for older systems, aside from that, any differences/preferences that are worth noting?

Not really, I use Amarok in Ubuntu - all it does is installs the required KDE files in order to run it in Gnome. You can run Gnome applications in Kubuntu too.

*dependencies permitting.

Apt sorts all that out for you!

Don't need command line for any of that with Mint, it's preinstalled.

A) It's not hard to do and B) Mint is now a full version behind Ubuntu/Kubuntu.

A) It's harder than not having to do it at all B) That's just a number with no particular meaning, all the meaningful stuff is equally up to date with either distro.

One thing I always find staggering is how long it takes to get my Windows environment up and running - we're talking at least an evening - first to install Windows, relevant chipset, GPU and sound drivers, antivirus & firewall, office apps etc, endless restarts, then there's PDF support, MP4 support etc.

Ubuntu is usually up and running in half an hour, including mp3 support and every other format I can think of...then all the software I need can be added through the software store.

New version (Linux Mint 8) is out in November