I agree...considering the massive amount of great titles on it, u can easily pick it up and play it until u hv enough money to go to the nex gen plus a good LCD tv to enjoy it with.

Don't jump into the pirate band wagon too much...u won't enjoy ur games...instead, pick a couple of games u really like, then play it.

My personal fav on the PS2:
MGS2 and 3
Ace Combat 4,5 and 6
FFX
Beyond Good n Evil
Ratchet n Clank series
Sly Cooper Series
God of War 1 and 2
Naruto Shippuuden (Narutimate 4) - buy the latest ones since it has all the features of the previous one plus more character
Virtua Fighter
Soul Calibour

These are enough to get u going and enjoy ur console.