I've been following the discussion about digital cameras with interest and I've been wondering if any of you knowledgable people out there can give me any similar tips about digital camcorders ?. I've just treated myself to a Sony TRV33 (mini DV format)mainly because I want to provide a record of our brass band outings ( and for family events and a bit of keyboard stuff as well ). The sound quality using the internal mics is quite tinny, but after splashing out the £s on the camera I'm not in a position to buy any expensive mics / mixing desks. Any recommendations of s uitable external mic (poss. stereo) that would cover both brass band and keyboard situations ?.

I've also bought a Ulead Firewire card and bundled video editing software. If I can cure the "dropped frames" problem when I'm transferring the video to my PC for editing ( more expense on the PC I suspect ) I'd like to do some editing on the captured sound. Any thoughts on a suitable package for taking sound from an MPEG / AVI / DV format, editing it and burning onto a CD ?.

Thanks all

Keith