Coming to the Protools dance very late

I apologize in advance for any redundancies, but being 3 versions behind makes it near impossible to find an answer to this question.



After using Sonar for a long time, I want to move on to Protools. However, budget dictates that I buy a used old version to see if I like it. I have an M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface, and research tells me I must purchase an M-Powered version. I found on on eBay but want to ask a question before I buy it.



I am totally unfamiliar with iLok. The ad says " It is new, unregistered and ready to add to your iLok account." I don't know what that means. I can take from that statement that iLok is some virtual place on the internet where you register things. Is that correct? This is going on an XP computer so again from research I believe that v8 is the newest version that I can use without upgrading the OS and I prefer to not do that right now.



The ad shows some sort of USB dongle that I assume must be in place for Protools to run.



Am I on the right track here with all of these assumptions?



Thanks in advance for any feedback I get.