Which digital SLR should I purchase?

in the neighborhood of $500

I don't know if you can purchase a Digital SLR for that price. Most SLR bodies that I know of cost more than $500 dollars. You might find a used Rebel on e-bay or somewhere for that price. The rebel being a decent entry level amateur camera might be what you are looking for. You might even find an older Nikon D50 on e-bay for around that price, but I would expect that you will pay a little more. If you have a camera/photography shop around, you might consider waltzing in with your $500 bucks and say, this is all I got, what do you have in used digital SLR cameras'. Most shops don't like the idea of letting that kinda money walk out the front door. The problem is that most of the advanced snap-shot digital cameras like the Sony Cyber shot 10 Mega pixel cameras are around $500 bucks. What ever you find, good luck, and happy shooting.

With $500 you really have three options...do what the guy above says...get a used Rebel XT or Nikon D50. These are entry level. If you are serious about getting into SLR scene, though, know that it is the lenses that will cost you, not the camera. Think of your $500 as a down payment in that situation. So you either wanna get into that (and pony up more $ in the future) or stick to some nice point and shoot like Canon S2, which takes great pics and has great features. In fact a high level point and shoot may outperform a low-level DSLR with a crappy lens on. So think about it.