Thanks again. I was able to locate the USRobotics 56K Modem: USR5637 56K USB Faxmodem locally (but for $40 more than cited online); nobody in these parts has heard of the Zoom Telephonics - V.92 56K USB Mini External Modem.

According to the write-ups on both modems, Mac Snow Leopard and Lion both have fax software/capability built in. So one does not have to rely on third-party software?

Some other issues have surfaced in the interim:

- What's up with the weird downsized keyboard on the new iMacs? There's no numeric keypad plus other keys. To get a full one I'd have to buy a whole new set-up.

- Assuming that I can connect my iMac DV SE (running Mac OS 9.0.4 and using Mozilla 1.0.1 browser) to the new iMac (running Mac OS X 10.7 and using Firefox browser), using a USB cable, how would I get my Mozilla bookmarks off my current set-up and into the new iMac?
[I discussed this with a colleague who just got a new Power Book Pro, and he was unable to transfer the bookmarks from one machine to the other, even though both were running OS X (10.6 to 10.7) and using Firefox.]

- The new iMac has a FireWire 800 port, whereas my current machine has an older FW port. Are there adapters so that I can continue to use my CD burner (LaCie) and laser printer (Lexmark E120n), both of which use the older style cable? Or are those peripherals no longer usable with the new iMac?

- What's the score with Apple Help? Is there a self-contained Help function on the new iMacs, so that one can figure out how to configure it and manipulate/navigate it without having to go online?

- With my current iMac I had (as I recall, only poorly) at least 3 months' of free Apple telephone advice. What's the current situation with telephone assistance from Apple?

In case it isn't obvious, I am extremely nervous about taking the plunge into a new iMac (even though I can easily use others' machines running OS X, as long as they're already set up and running well). Even colleagues who are quite 'conversant' with newer hardware and software have run into set-up problems which they can't figure out how to get around (see above).
My current iMac pretty much ran right out of the box, requiring minimal tweaking to get it to do my bidding the way I like.
I find Mac OS 9 far more user friendly and intuitive to use than Mac OS X, which seems to work in a far more mysterious/devious fashion, putting/hiding things in places where anyone other than a programmer can't find them or would even think to look.