what are you recording, how many tracks at once?
First rule about interfaces keep it simple for entry level stuff. Every year your first $300 spent on an interface will do 10x what the one you buy now will do.
You want 24 bit, probaaly up to 96 sample rate (personally, I rarely go above 48 though). Go for USB 2.0 or firewire if you can, these will add mobility and compatabily as PCI fades out of existance. That said there are 100 nearly identical items out there that will fit that mold. The key decision makers are going to be included preamps and converter quality IMHO. I am a big proponent of outboard pre's, so i would suggest finding the cheapest/best 24 bit firewire interface with the best converters you can for the max number of tracks you expect to record at once. Firebox is fine, i am sure.
SP B1 or B3 is a great start, I ahve a B3 and the fexibilty of the mutliple pattterns is really nice. That said you won't miss it as you get started if you need to save budget money and go for the B1. There are a bunch of mics with comparable quality, any of those ~$100 mic will help you learn what you want out of recording, because eventually you will need more than 1 mic.
Monitors- check out the "Other equipment" forum. For your overall proce range (and we are talking more toward the $700 than the $500 so far) you are going to have to go cheap. I have the wharfedale 8.1A s and i love them, but i have never really had a chance to hear other monitors. anything $200 or less will have drawbacks, but like the interface, until you get up there in the $$ range (over $600 probably) you are looking at roughly the same sorts of things.
Daav
