I'll get some ATMEGA8 as well ATMega328 as soon as some extra funds become available (that I don't need for other projects).
The 328 actually is quite expensive, costs 4.50 Euro from my local vendor, and they are a professional supplier not a hobby shop. I didn't see it for less than $6 on eBay as well.
I don't mind I am interested to try develope some gadgets based on the 328 however for this price I can buy a PIC32 already. So the cheaper ATMega8 is also interesting or any other kind of Atmel chip that can be programmed using the Arduino.
Actually, is it possible to use an USB/serial converter to program these Atmel chips? Because I have some of them around.