My computer is starting to get a bit slower. For the past years, i have ven putting music into it. What i like to know if i should by an external hard drive or just upgrade my 512MB memory. I would appreciate your suggestions.
Upgrading your RAM, is probably the best and cheapest way to bring new life to any ageing pc. To answer the slowing down issue.... your'e gonna need to defragg your hdd, at least fortnightly/weekly. No ifs or butts about it, just do it and you will see the difference. Storage can take many forms, the best advise in my opinion is to get, as you say, an external hdd. To further this opinion, I'd like to add that an external drive can be turned on when needed and off when not. This extends the working life of the drive, just the same as a light bulb. Short of a mild overclock, keep your system as is until it's unbearable....then decide where your money is better spent. All the best.
Personally i would do both, The memory will help with all your applications and such. And the external drive would free up space on the hard drive. Both would be a great help.