Without gold means you'll be a forever solo player. If you go to Amazon, you can buy gold for two years. That's a $1 per month cheaper than gold for 1 year. Also, gold memberships stack. If you find it really cheap and you already have it, go ahead and buy it again. It'll stack on your current membership and kick in when the current expires. I don't believe there's a limit to how many you can stack. Follow Major Nelson on Twitter. He's always posting where XBL deals can be found.