I don't know anything about that machine but in my opinion i wouldn't use something that uses zip discs, there expensive and rare in my experience

Ditto. Is it a done deal? If not pass on it. If so, I would be willing to give you a few disks that I don't need anymore, but I agree with Alex, since cd-r's and dvd-r's hold a lot more data and (are cheaper to boot), zips disks are not very popular anymore and too expensive compared to other recordable formats. That said, I have 2 computers with zip drives, both several years old and still working fine. LOL

There is a very easy mod to get that unit to record to a small laptop hard drive. Chances are good you won't be recording tons of stuff at the same time [like multiple album's worth of drums and such]. If you stick with the zip discs, thats probbly fine, but if you run out of room real quick, look into the mod. I believe the only difficult part is getting the harddrive physically mounted.

I have a Roland VS880EX which isn't too far from the 840. I believe mine just uses a harddrive [nah, nah!]. The manual is complete garbage. Midi implementation is useless [no midi tracks, so it's only good for automation, which if you only have an 840/880, you probbly aren't at the stage where you'll be running an outboard midi controller for mixing]. The little green screen... what's the point!?!?!?!?

However... once you get your transport down [play stop rewind etc], the aux ins and outs, the eq/effects and your location markers for marking your songs [verse chorus etc etc] you will find that the sound quality is good, the reverb is actually pretty good, and though not entirely intuitive, its a handy little machine. I generally just dump everything into protools using the outputs and edit/mix there but I have done it no prob with the roland. I recomend using an outboard mixer for ease of connections unless you are just doing one or two things at a time, and getting an rca to 1/8 jack for mixing down. There's plenty of free software good enough to just record a stereo mix and make it ready to burn to disc.

I recomend always powering down properly however. I once lost a client's work and wasn't happy about it [he was, because he played the second time around way better... I use the 880ex to go mobile].

Its pretty much a done deal, just waiting for it to arrive. Right now it's a small operation just me and occasionally my brother, working on songs, ideas, and hearing myself. I am aware of the limitations of the zip drive but right now I don't view that as a huge obstacle but time may change that opinion. Plus on the practical side while I would have rather had a Boss 900 or better, the Roland only cost a little over 100 USD and is coming with a set of monitors. And as I said earlier this is my first step into this world and I have a lot of learning in front of me.

That is a smokin deal. I don't think you will be disappointed.