Well, I pulled the trigger on the 1008.
Honestly, I'm a bit worried that the 9008 would impair the behaviour of the Fn/Menu key, which I use a lot relative to many people. I also know that the three of the extra keys in the 1008 design can be configured by Foobar2000, not sure about the different ones on the 9008.
I also added a bunch of the cutesy upsells-- the $200 wireless mouse (need a spare), the $100 card reader, and that cleaning-paste stuff, so it came to 93 USD all inclusive... still less than the 9008.