more news on USB & midi: Douglas just got a brand new Dell inspiron 8100 with a 64mb Radeon 7500 ... and midi through usb seems to work just fine ...
there seem to be some problems with USB host controller by a company called VIA Tech, which is supposed to cause all kinds of problems with multimedia USB devices. The Dell, on the other hand, uses an Intel-made USB host controller, which is supposedly better, or at least more universally compatible.
Also, Creative Labs has just released an external USB-based soundcard called the
Extigy, which comes with a "real" MIDI input, so that might be something to look for too if you are really into midi ...