Rosie....I agree with you, the cost is well out of my league!
When I say it's cheep, I mean, for those who can afford and actual use one of the high end app's, then the price isn't too bad. Just think what a professional CG artist/illustrator could do with this and the time and money they would save, then, for them, it becomes cheep, and I would imagine, very soon become a must have piece of software!