you could substitute them with equivalent part, just make sure the power and voltage rating are sufficient. For the BC239C i'm not sure though, better check the datasheet.

Been playing around with both the Arduino and MSP430 launchpad from TI and are impressed by both!!

Both are programmed in C although it is possible to program the MSP430 in ASS-embly. But i won't bother with assembly as it is a pain in the rear.
Arduino programming is very straigh forward! Frankly I'm amazed at how easy it is. Most probably, you don't need to start coding from scratch as there is tons of code examples available out there to modify to you own taste.
MSP430 in other hand, require much steeper learning curve. Let's just do an example of the two initiating digital pin mode:

Arduino: pinMode(pin, OUTPUT);
MSP430: P1DIR |= 0x40;

See, Arduino is much easier to understand than the equivalent MSP430.

The MSP430 specialty is the very low power mode. It use 3.3V and consume very little current as it can go on really slow operating frequency.
But for power and simplicity, it simply can't beat Arduino.

Just to bring back the thread from death.

i got my MSP430 from farnell. have to wait for 2 weeks last time although they quoted me 2 month lead time. Do notes that those MSP430 are low power device, 3.3v.

Nothing beats the simplicity of working with arduino though.

Be careful not to fry your sound card. other than for playing around the sound card oscilloscope doesn't really do anything useful.

anybody play with FPGA? burned(cooked, not program it) my arduino on my last project and since FPGAs are really coming down in price. might want to look into it. got 50usd digilent BASYS2 spartan 3e on the internet but i have never ordered anything oversea yet.

Control by PC is a bit harder. Too much work. Easier to use microcontroller. 8bit one such as Arduino is good for beginner. And yes arduino will be more than enough to do what you are trying to do.

I'm not sure in LYN got sell or not. but element14/farnell got. also many online seller such as myduino. get the older Arduino Duemilanove, can mod into programmer for ATMEL microcontroller. got FTDI chip on board yo!

A tips i got for somebody experienced in electronic is just to get a FTDI cable and ATMEGA328 with arduino bootloader. Much cheaper that way. considering one arduino board goes for rm90 nowadays. I say experienced because you will need to provide the crystal, Vcc, etc to the ATMEGA.

You mean mass produce? You could buy a non erasable microcontroller, those One Time Programmed chips are much cheaper than the normal hobbyist use EEPROM.

got spare atmega328 bro? i burned mine working on last semester projects.