I would go with an Creative labs sound blaster audigy. They have awsome sound quality. Everything supports them fully. I've never heard of them being responsible for causing problems with anything. Creative Labs also has the best support for EAX in games because well, they invented EAX.
Either way you go. Don't make your decision based on the software that comes with the card. Use the drivers but don't install any of the other uneccassary crap. If you need something to play mp3s use
Winamp. It's free, it's skinable, and it's the best mp3 player available period, free or otherwise.