MSN- What is the value of Directory Links?

I know that theres a whole lot of hype about the
value of directory listings, I was just wondering what the
value of a directory link is, because:

I am about to launch a small website and plan to target
MSN and Yahoo, my target keywords leader has 200 backlinks.

I was browsing the web and found a deal were they manually submit your site to 500 directorys for only $99. If I can get such a huge amount of links will this allow me to outrank my Yahoo and MSN comp?

Also worth noting is that they also offer to manually submit my article (which they'll write) to 300 article directorys all by hand for $99, and they'll write it for $140. What do you think?

Am I getting ripped off or is it the deal of the century? And what is the value of directory links in Yahoo and MSN

directory submission and article submission for back links, you are on right track BUT i doubt that such service provider will do it manually rather than submission s/w. It will be better if you do same yourself for that u can easily get list of directory and article directory here in SEOCHAT forum or simply doing some search on internet. Becoz nobody else know ur website and requirement Better than you.