The thing to note about the Ettis and Lime devices is that they're good for so much more other than just moving I/Q to your computer. They have powerful FPGAs t

The thing to note about the Ettis and Lime devices is that they're good for so much more other than just moving I/Q to your computer. They have powerful FPGAs that make it possible to do filtering and decoding and such in hardware. If you're just looking to play around with radio, you don't need a device with these features -- not until you're much further along the learning curve. For any practical usage of these devices, it's assumed you have the wherewithal and radio background to build the pieces that it lacks; filtering, amplifiers, antennas and feedlines, and so on. This is very much a professional device, and it's not meant to replace the common usage of $20 rtlsdr dongles within the hobbyist radio community.