Yes, you need a windows live ID to sign up for xboxlive.
When you create an account on your console it automatically becomes an Xbox Silver Account (free account). But you can purchase an Xbox LIVE Subscription which you can't get for free.
No, once you buy an Xbox Live subscription and put it on an account it stays on that account and can't be transferred.
Yeah, I suppose you could say it's "free" while you have the subscription time on your account. After the subscription time runs out though, you'll have to renew the account's membership.
Sort of. When you connect to Xbox Live, you get one free month of the Gold subscription. After that you have to buy it, or make another account.
An internet connection and xbox live gold account
You only get 1 month of free Xbox Live Gold Subscription if you make an account on your Xbox 360
When you create an account it will give you the option of buying or redeeming a subscription card.
It's possible that you may have purchased something or have your subscription on auto-renewal.
One Xbox Live Gold subscription can be used for one account only. If you wish to have more than one account that has Gold subscription on it, you must buy a different membership for every account.
All you have to do is create the account and it automatically becomes what is call an Xbox Live Silver Account. You don't need any credit card or subscription card.
If you mean a subscription card then no you dont need to purchase one. The only time you need to purchase one is when you want to upgrade your account to a Gold Subscription. You can also do this via Xbox Console.
Since the release of the Xbox 360, yes it technically is. You can have friends and chat with the "silver" account, which is 100% free to use. Although, if you are trying to get on the "Gold" subscription to actually play games online and download addons/demos of games then you will need to pay the subscription fee.However there are resources that will show you how with a little bit of work you can get your gold subscription for free!