http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=43277
XSI has some of the best char animation tools available.
Experience version is limited to 510x510 renders with a watermark (no where near as obtrusive as Maya PLE’s) and a few other things.
And…drumroll
YOU CAN SAVE!
Wayyyyyy too much! 
I think they’re still in the 15k range (per seat). They don’t list the price on their site - you need to talk to a sales person. Since I don’t plan on refinancing the house any time soon I won’t waste their time. 
Softimage3D is down to $1500 though and most of the char animation tools in XSI came over from there. However, no one knows if Soft3D has a future at this point…
Here’s a link to the restrictions in the demo:
http://www.softimage.com/products/exp/v3/details_limitations/default.asp
I ordered their “Learning Kit” ($60) and downloaded the demo. The kit is the Experience CD and a spiral bound 400 some odd page tutorial guide. I may never afford the software but I’ll sure as heck know how to use it if I’m ever kidnapped by a rogue animator!
Screenshot (where you can see the watermark) here:
The future for Soft3D was mainly seen as for games companies (where it’s still pretty big) and I believe some film companies still have it (big knowledge base still exists)
There are also student or educational prices and (another drumroll) you get SEVEN OR EIGHT MANUALS WITH YOUR COPY OF XSI…
1 Shaders
2 Fundamentals
3 Simulation
4 Rendering & Compositing etc etc.
I won’t list all but the smallest XSI manual supplied is the equivalent of the HASH 9.5 manual I got. I keep on harping on about manuals but if you don’t have enough information, you’re going to miss all the new features.
About the only good thing is no-one can ask you to RTFM when you send an inquiry to the AMlist anymore…
It’s cool to mention other apps here, but the forum seems to be dominated by “use this instead of A:M” threads lately. If somebody asks about options for migration, that’s fine, but don’t go advertising unrelated software just for kicks.