I have a budget of about 250$. I was wondering if I could get something on the lines of a Presonus Firepod. In simple terms, i just want a device that will let me act as an interface to let me use my PC as an a means to record music. I'm not really looking for an internal device, because I'll be transferring all my data onto a laptop in the recent future.

Right now, I've narrowed my search down to the Line6 Toneport UX2 and the M-Audio Fast Track Pro:
http://line6.com/podstudioux2/index.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackPro.html

If someone's used either, and could point me in the right direction, or has a better alternative in the same price range, I'd really really appreciate the advice. I'll mostly be recording through a Squier Jazz bass, but will be recording vocals and guitars through it as well. Hope someone here could enlighten me on this. Thx.

Firepod would be fine.

Agreed, the Firepod is an excellent device. However, you do not record the files to the firepod, you will need a second HDD for that. I recommend a FW HDD, since you say you will be transferring to a laptop.

Form the bass, you can plug directly in, or go through a DI, which will yield a better quality sound if you use a good quality direct box.

For guitar, a trusty Shure SM57 is a great choice to mic it with.

For vocals, on the cheap, the Studio Projects B1 is a nice mic for $100.

Best of luck. BTW, you might want to watch your local Craigslist musical instruments listings for a used Firebox, and save yourself a little money. You can often pick them up for $100 there.

Probably a little late here, but I really like the Mackie Onyx Satellite firewire interface. It gives you a lot of options for the price. If you haven't looked into it, I'd at least give one a look-see.

Also, for vocals, you might consider looking into a good tube preamp, but that really depends on your budget.

The Firepod has spdif i/o so if you add an outboard preamp, I'd recommend doing so via spdif to improve the converter quality as well.