2 in 1: Dual booting XP with Windows 7 And how much does XP cost?

Okay everybody, this is basically a 'multi' thread. Anyway, I'm considering buying an XP installation CD/license. Are these still available? And if so, what's the price? And also, how would I go on about dual booting? I heard you have to shrink your partition to fit the XP installation on (because I only have one hard drive). Is there a tutorial that tells you? Sorry if this all sounds a bit newbish, but I'm not too experienced with this part of computing even though I reformatted my PC about 3 times :0
Thanks in advance!

@pebbly Thanks for the link! Does this ebay link look legit? http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Microsoft...item1e68b178de

I agree. The seller looks legitimate, but do be careful.

There have been many instances where Windows software has been sold on E-bay and Amazon where they are ex-MSDN copies with an expired product key.

As ever: 'Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware'

Will you be installing to a Dell PC?

not tried XP mode? u can get it to work in any ver of win 7 though 7zip.

You have an alternative option actually, but it'll require you to use Anytime Upgrade to change your Windows Home Premium into Windows Ultimate (no reinstall of any kind will be required).

Once you have done that, you can download and install XP Mode for free, which is a virtual machine running inside Windows 7. You'll also get an actual XP Pro with SP3 system included with it.

The main advantages of this method are that you can use both 7 and XP simultaneously, and there's no need to repartition the harddisk in any way.
One disadvantage is that XP mode emulates a generic hardware platform with only basic video capabilities and won't work with resource-intensive 3D games running in XP, if you intend to run anything like that.

@Corazon I would upgrade to W7 Ultimate as a friend recommended, but how much does it cost to buy online? (Not actually going to a store and purchasing Ultimate from the box). I also considered buying XP because then I could run W7 and XP at the same time :). But XP mode sounds pretty useful.

Anytime Upgrade should be in your Start menu - it only works online, directly from Microsoft. They set the pricing - I'm not sure at the moment how much an upgrade from Home Premium costs, but you can find out easily by going there.