udev, pam and perms

[elsenator]

Ok, so here i am with my two week old Gentoo installation and i'm in heaven! Everything went suprisingly smooth concerning the overall installation and i really appreciate the work everyone has put in this project. So thanks all!

Anyways, i do, however, have some problems of minor disturbificationalikeability(i wonder i that word is in the dictionary).

The problems all have to do with udev, pam and the permissions applied to my devices such as hd's, cdroms, sound(dsp), usb harddrive devices and such.
I removed devfs from my kernel some days ago, since i read that udev was the new way to do things. The transition went smooth. BUT! I also installed autofs and i have heaps of trouble trying to get the perms on my devices to be correct.
I read in other posts that it has to do with udev and pam(don't know what pam is other than it has to do with how the system lets users log on) resetting the perms everytime i boot. They get reset so only root has permission to mount my sony camera(sdb1 device) and use the recording features of my soundcard(skype has to be root for it to work).

So... Long post i know - but i'm confused.
- What is pam exactly? And what should i do with it?
- How do i permanently change the perms on my systems devices so all users can use them without having to su all the time. I have udev, autofs and probably pam(most people seem to have). I DON'T have devfs anymore(it's removed from my kernel)?

I realize that many other posts concern these matters, but having 4 different posts all describing one thing(udev, pam, perms on devfs, perms on udev etc.) is more confusing than helping when i'm already in the dark with these matters.

I also realize that these are big questions, so if you feel i ask too much, just ignore me I'll probably figure it out over time, but every bit of help is a step on the right path.

Thanks...!