I want to do this right this time, so a couple of questions are in order before I start.
#1 Should I use swaret to upgrade to current?
#2 If so, should I exclude alsa along with kernel?
or
#3 Should I compile and install the 2.6.9 kernel first, then upgrade to current with swaret or something similar?
and finally,
#4 No matter which path I took in the past, an upgrade always broke my sound, how do I prevent this from happening?
#5 Should I upgrade from gnome, or kde desktop? In the past I have always done it from kde, and then could never load gnome desktop again.

If all you care about is sound.. do not upgrade the kernel or alsa. I like the 2.6.7 kernel that is included in /testing.

As for upgrading and keeping up-to-date, swaret works well, but I try to keep up-to-date with security updates only, So i just keep an eye for security updates and install them manually (and only if I am using the software that needs to be updated)

I just upgraded a laptop that had 9.1 on it to -current. This is what I did.
1. I backed up my complete /etc directory.

2. Read Changelog. There are a lot of hints in the changelog on how the changes are going to affect your configuration. ie. Upgrading Xorg requires different keyboard driver id. in xorg.conf.

3. I downloaded the complete directory of current
plus the /extras directory. I used wget over ftp.

4. I burned all those packages to two cd's, skipping the kernel headers and other kernel related packages.

5. I mounted the first cd and followed the directions here and dropped down to run level 1, upgradepkg glibc-solib , then packagetools, then sed. I then used upgradepkg --install-new /mnt/cdrom/slackware/*/*.tgz , (use whatever dir. yours is in.)
I never upgrade packages with an Xserver running.

6. I went through and made sure lilo pointed to where I wanted it to, I edited inittab to start in runlevel 3, in case there was any problems with X.

7. Rebooted

Everything worked fine. I know exactly what changes were made, and why. There were no surprises.

If this sounds like a lot of time and work, it wasn't. I never have to wait for a reply to a call for help because "blank' hosed my install.

All the tools and information is on the Slackware site and all the official mirrors.

I think I am going to try that tonight when I get home from work eelriver. It just seems as if all other methods fail miserably on my box. I'm not about to change hardware just for linux, I'll change linux first, even if it means no linux!
I know not all hardware manufacturers out there have linux support in their drivers, but even for those that do many people still have problems. I think part of it is the kernel not fully supporting the hardware, driver or no driver, so there are two sides to the lousy hardware support. Take ATI for example. I have a 9800XT that I cannot get working with 3D in linux(any distro) if my life depended on it, then there are just as many out there who have the same card and absolutely no problems whatsoever getting beautiful 3D working. So it's not just drivers, it is partly the kernel also and a hit or miss depending on other hardware and how the kernel likes it or dislikes it, IMO.

You are correct. Linux is free and powerfull but it isn't perfect I use swaret, I only upgrade when I am " forced " for dependency or a new program that I have installed.