/ vs /blog and other directory decisions

Hi there,
I’m actually taking the plunge and installing WP (for a new blog, not to replace my existing blog at this time). I know, I know, after all my conversations here, it’s long overdue ??
So anyway, I’m creating this grand site about Foo, and my initial inclination is to put my WP blog at everythingfoo.com/blog/ — but then I recall that I usually see blogs at site roots. Is this a requirement to have pings work correctly? I fuzzily remember something about weblogs and such always referencing a site root, even when the blog was in a subdirectory. Or am I just imagining things?
Are there any structural / design / logistical / other considerations here regarding the placement of one’s blog? For SEO? For user expectations?
Oh, and a bit more about my Foo site: I plan on creating a bunch of static pages about various aspects of Foo that will include complex tables and such, so I figured these are best done in Dreamweaver rather than kludging separate WP templates… so I’d have everythingfoo.com/aboutFooType1 and everythingfoo.com/aboutFooType2
Aw, hell, I might as well spill the beans. This is getting too abstract. I’m creating a site about online music services, to include information and discussion about Napster, iTunes, online music philosophies, DRM, and so on. I already know a hell of a lot about this stuff and have blogged a bunch about it already, so I figured I might as well create a more dedicated site about it.
The challenge becomes one of structure. For instance, I plan on posting, for instance, my (occasionally updated) review(s) of Napster, along with tabbed info about Napster and Napster compared with other services, plus general updates about the service (“Reached the x-millionth download today…”) and so on.
So I worry a bit about the artificiality of a separate /blog/ directory construct. Perhaps it should be /napster/basic-info.htm and /napster/updates/index.php (powered by WP) or… heck.
This is a major logistical undertaking {sigh}. Sorry for the rambling here, but if anyone would like to offer any thoughts about structure, WP, and so on, I’d love to hear from you.