Firestudio? Start small or go for expandability?

[shadewind]

I'm thinking of buying a firewire soundinterface in the likes of Presonus Firestudio, mostly because of the expandability with the ADAT connectivity. Thing is, for a poor sound engineering student like me, that's a lot of money. I'd gladly put out the money if it's an interface i can do with for some time. But if I decide to buy an external converter in, let's say, one or two years, is the Firestudio a card that will still satisfy me by then or will it become outdated? Should I go for something smaller like a Firepod or a Firebox in the meantime and completely replace it later?

A good thing with ADAT connectivity is also the fact that I can record live gigs from a digital mixer as well...

As of now, I'm leaning towards acually getting the Firestudio but I've got to think twice.