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There are absolute differences. For dry pasta, I get Barilla. For chicken noodle soup, linguini for fish, etc., the Kroger near me carries Amish handmade pasta from Das Dutchman Essenhaus, which is better than Barilla. And while I don't have a pasta maker myself, I swear by the handmade uncooked & undried stuff from Ohio City Pasta in Cleveland, which also makes orders for better restaurants within about 100 miles. Theirs is what's best around NW Ohio/SE Michigan.

get the pasta maker. It is a different and more complex pasta than you can buy at the store. make sure you use semolina flour and good eggs. You can make homemade pasta by hand and skip the machine.

Don't get a Ron Popeil style of pasta machine, the kind that extrudes malformed macaroni. Get one with the rollers or the Kitchen Aid attachment and you will be very happy.

Yes you should get one it is simple and easy and the taste is great. You can also use the rollers for other things like rolling out crackers thin enough and fondant for decorating! I didn't get the KA attachment as i like the kind that go on the counter. I like mine so much I just leave it out all the time! You might want to know what you will use it for as different one have different attachments, mine does spaghetti,angel hair,lasagna,ravioli,fettucine and something else that i can't think of. If you do want the machine that you dump it in and it does everything including extruding it like cassandra mentioned above then check ebay- they have a ton of those.

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My dad and I used to make ravioli together when I was a kid. I guess we're just going to have to do that this weekend now.

Alton Brown did a great show on stuffed pasta, and the way he did it was really simple. He used a manual pasta roller, rolled out one long sheet of pasta, placed spoonfuls of filling along one side and then folded it in half and cut it into squares after they were sealed. I can tell you there is nothing in the world like homemade ravioli, and the beauty part is you can stuff it with just about anything imaginable--squash, eggplant, crab etc.... As long as it's not too watery it's fair game!

My grandmother always made her own macaroni - by hand. We used to help, but it was very time-consuming, and our little hands were not terribly practiced. THis wasn't really a problem w/ cavatelli, but you could spot the ravioli we kids made from across the room: so pathetic-looking! (We were all under 9 @ the time!) Taste-wise, on the other hand, what a difference! Each of her grandchildren - there are 6 of us - now has a pasta machine of one type or another.

I've got a very good one that you strap to the edge of the table/counter, but it's a manual. Since it's still extremely time-consuming and arm-intensive, we only have homemade on special occasions.

Every time I use it, I think that there must be a way to put a small high-torque motor on it. I tried rigging power-tools to it - three different electric drills, over the years - but it's nearly impossible to regulate the speed properly. I know they sell electric motors for it. but I'm not prepared to spend $75 to $100 on it. (Same problem, btw, as my 30-year-old Squeezo Strainer: works great, but it kills your arm over time.)

I have an Italian friend in Italy and she NEVER eats anything other than dried, store-bought - usually penne.

@ LPC and Cass
if you are ever near Columbus, check out the north market, in the Short North area of downtown. its a big "open air" market located inside this huge warehouse. they have a wonderful home made pasta company, with every kind of ravioli you can imagine. its delicious.

I have spoiled my wife with my fresh pasta. She doesn't want store bought dry pasta anymore. Get the pasta roller attachment for the Kitchenaid. You will be amazed. Making pasta is simple, cheap and for me the big difference is the texture - smooth and silky.