That's like.. dirt cheap, isn't it?  
 
http://www.canadacomputers.com/ind [...] cid=SC.483
 
It's out of stock right now, though..

Seems cheap, but it wouldn't the first time i see a shop put a low price on a item... they don't have in stock. I just checked other cards of creative and most of them are in 40ish now. I guess the new ones are coming soon.

well none in stock kind of sucks. good price tho.

I wouldn't get a creative if you have Vista, the drivers SUCK. I put my creavive X-Fi from my last build into my new computer and it caused so much trouble that I just took it out and got an Asus sound card.

gamecrazychris, how is the Asus card? does it have comparable upmixing for 2 channel sound(mp3) to the X-fi?
 
My Audigy 2zs has great upmixing, but not on vista, it has crap all. And only the drivers MS provided seem to work right anyway.

I own an XtremeMusic under Vista x64 with a 5.1 setup and i have no problems with drivers or anything.
 
However, to my understanding, the XtremeMusic was discontinued (at least in the USA), so i recommend you research before buying. I personally recommend the XtremeGamer Fatality, or the Auzentech Prelude depending on what speakers you have and much you are willing to spend. For a 7.1, i would recommend the Auzentech, but the Fatality is good for the 5.1. You could also take a look at the new Creative PCI-Express x1 sound card as well. Though, i don't know much about it.

That's a good deal, 2 bad its outta stock.

 
Even if its discontinued its still supported by Creative (believe it or not) and its a nice sounding card, with all the bells & whistles for $40.

I have been fuming mad at Creative for the lack of driver support in Vista myself for months now.  
HOWEVER, I just downloaded the new beta drivers, and application software for my X-FI Gamer. So far it seems, everything is back to normal as it was in XP before I did my Vista upgrade. It's about friggin time.

Jit, did you download the Console too?  They even seem to have gotten that pretty much right.

Now that's something.  
 
I remember having trouble with my Soundblaster Live. The driver was messed up beyond recognition. Just clicking the soundcheck button using their software send a reset signal to the SCSI controller. Quite a beautiful feature if you really, really want to ruin a CD/DVD you are burning. And that was only one of the issues.
 
The support was... well, it wasn't from this planet. It had lots of helpful tipps attached, nothing short of "take it out, lick it until you feel dizzy and put it back in - oh and don't ask ever again. ever".

Not to fussed about Creative's support and drivers since I.. won't be using their drivers. It'll sound awesome on my MDR-v6 headphones.  
 
I think it SHOULD be back in stock soon, since I regularly check Canada Computer's site and I've never seen this there before. Probably sold out real quick.

TBH, I think Creative is finally beginning to realize that customers know there are several other GREAT choices for sound cards today...so Creative is trying to clean up their act and their mess.  Competition does wonders.

^ But Creative doesn't have a say in the price of this card, do they? It's OEM.