Below are my opinions.
Don't switch to Windows 7. It's just a big hastle. I've had a Windows 7
machine for two months, and I still don't use it regularly. Keep getting
automatic updates if you must, but I believe that the XP security risks are
hiped by Microsoft to try to push people toward more modern, bloated
operating systems.
From my experience, you will see all sorts of error messages when trying to
instal your favorite programs to Windows 7. Some programs you use every day
will no longer work, some not even in compatibility mode.
It seems to me that Windows 7 was not made for a power user but radically
simplified and coolized to simplify the computer at the expense of
efficiency.
For all around grunt work (sound management, music ripping, document
editing, PDF viewing), I'll put XP against Windows 7 any day.
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