Hey Nige, I too was surprised to see that Pixmaker from Pixaround was $200. I got it for $30 just under 2 years ago when they were offering the home edition at that price for non professional use.
When I was starting with panos I too looked at the Zoom Image program and a few others but they left a lot to be desired as far as sewing and blending the images. They often left blotchy areas where the images were joined and did not blend well enough.
I hit the jackpot with Pixaround and knew it was the one to use as soon as I tried it out.
While the 360� panoramics are very cool, the ultimate in this technology is offered by ipix (
www.ipix.com ) which produces the fisheye images like the one at
www.alarcon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Gaudi/Hall.htm 
Unfortunately, you need to have an ipix compatible camera to do it with the fisheye lens.
See the page at
http://www.ipix.com/products/im/publishing/index.shtml for more and to see if your camera is compatible, check the list
HERE (very few cameras are compatible, you need a Nikon Coolpix or Olympus D series).
With this system, you need only take 2 photos of each scene for amazing results instead of the more than 10 needed with Pixaround, etc...
The
ipix website has loads of info on getting started and sells kits as well (even with cameras included) although they are expensive.
With ipix, one also has to pay for a key to complete each scene and the keys run between $10 and $25 per depending on how many you buy at once.
The ipix system is my next major purchase for my site, just trying to save up like you
Check out the ipix showcase at
www.ipix.com/showcase 
Saludos,
jer...
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
