[Thanir]

Xbox live is $50/year for gold access. This lets you play your games online, and dl demos, movies, etc as soon as they come out. Silver access is free and you get the demos and movies a bit later than gold members, and don't get online play.

the difference between the core 360 and the premium is the premium comes with the hard drive, a wireless controller, and a headset. The core just comes with the unit and a wired controller. If you buy a core you'll want a hd and thats another $100 (only worth it if you get a killer core deal like the one at Amazon for $100.)

The only extra things you would need from a premium unit would be another controller, plug and play pack (recharg battery pack for the wireless controller), and possibly the wifi adapter (you can plug it straight in to a Lan connection if you are close enough.)