newbie questions

["Rob Wright" <rwright@ca.inter.net>]

hi folks: i'm a newbie here -- just discovered this fine group while
checking a reference to JamMan on the new peter gabriel CD. since i'm new 
to
this, i have a few questions.
would somebody kindly give me a short list of the top loopers i should
listen to. even just a few to start, if possible. i have listened to andre
lafosse, and love what he is doing.
second, what are the main hardware devices for doing looping -- other than
JamMan and Echoplex -- and are there any decent software equivalents?
thanks so much and keep up the good work
rob