Flee asked what would be a good program for recording multitrack songs, and by far Pro Tools is the best thing out there hands down. You're not paying for the software, you're paying for the hardware and the software comes free. Audio recording is much more than getting a piece of software, unless of course you try and code a #1 techno hit. OR if you record your music outside of your computer and just import the .aiff or .wav files.
Cool Edit is not so bad, it's actually
Adobe Audition now, but thing is it works with DSP effects as opposed to TDM. DSP = render before preview, TDM = no render. Even with this program you would still need a mixer that could run about $100-$300. Recording directly into your soundcard = shitty, but hey it's just a suggestion.
Basically, I know my shit, and if you want good quality you're gonna have to do more than just download the software.