Should I Get a Canon Digital Rebel?

Julie and I have recently converted to nearly all digital photos, and while I like my Nikon Coolpix 2500 it is pretty challenging getting photos to turn out the way I'd like. About 10 years ago I bought a Canon Eos Elan for Julie on her birthday, and that has been our workhouse for 35mm ever since. We didn't go nuts on lenses, adding only a zoom lens to the lens that came with the camera.

I've always thought that some day we would get a digital body for those lenses, but $1500+ is just too much to justify. When Canon announced their Digital Rebel last year, my ears perked up and I started to seriously consider it.

We also discovered that our local Walgreens will do 4x6 printing of our digital photos for only $0.29, so there's some potential savings in development costs (i.e., only print the photos you like).

My only hesitation right now is an ignorance of the quality of the Digital Rebel body vs. some of the other options. Since my price point is certainly below $1000, there really aren't any other options (other than wait). Any commentary or feedback would be appreciated.