Canon Rebel T1i / EOS 500D Digital Camera with 18-55mm lens

I'm new to the world of SLR's, so if you're looking for a review from an experienced SLR user, you'll have to look elsewhere.  I've had this camera about 1 month.  When I made my purchase decision, part of my buying criterion was live view mode & a 3" LCD screen for under $800.  I also looked at Nikon D3000 (no live view) & D5000 (2.7" LCD screen), so the T1i fit the bill.  I am very happy with my decision.  After a little study & trial & error, I find this camera easy to use.  I like the size (it should travel well) & feel in my hand.  It has the feel of quality.  You can use this like a point & shoot or get very creative, with the ability to change the shutter speed, depth of field, color saturation, white balance, etc.  All this is easy to do, if you take the time to learn how to do it.  The image quality is fantastic.  It shoots in both the jpeg & raw modes & can shoot both at the same time.  You can dial the picture quality down from 15 meg. to 8 or 4 meg. when this is appropriate.  It focuses quickly and there is very little shutter lag.  Shoots very well in low light & the flash is powerful & can be adjusted.  The image stabilization system works well.  I load the images into my computer through the camera.  Very easy to do.  Live view mode works well and it's easy to focus in that mode, again once you take the time to learn.  The LCD screen is big & bright.  I have not used the movie mode yet.  On the down side, I liked the viewfinders better in the Nikons.  I could see the focus points better & it just seemed bigger.  I wish it had some in camera editing capability.  The owner's manual is a good beginning, but I bought a book by David Busch dedicated soley to this camera.  It's about 350 pages, so you can learn so much more & have more fun with this camera.  I'm still learning &, admittedly, some of it is too technical for me right now.  I'll grow into it.