virtual-box-vmware which if any should I get ...WinXP host

[libertypo]

I would go like this :
A clone of the present OS
Install win 7 / 64 bit
Install Vmware Player / Virtualbox
Virtualize XP in the new OS with 2gb of RAM / 1 core assigned to the virtual machine (the 32 bits apps won't be able to use more RAM anyhow)
If anything goes wrong you can do the recovery from the clone done on the first step

My 2 cents