Yeah man! Nothing sounds better than good old analog.
Hit that tape at +5db, get some saturation on the snare and bass groove.
To the original poster: I think a simple firewire interface such as this would be excellent. Usually they bundle these devices with some starter software. If they dont, write back and i will send you some free stuff.
http://www.audiomidi.com/8Pre-Firewire-Audio-Interface-P8575.aspx#