Nikon or Sony Slr Camera?

Well my girlfriend is in the the market to buying a new slr digital cameraaaa, they are very exspensive lol. but she's having trouble figuring out which camera to buy, it's between the Sony Alpha A330 and the Nikon D3000. She's leaning more towards the nikon, but the sony has live view which would be nice, not sure if the nikon has it. which one is better? and also what's the difference between a telephoto lens and a vr lens? also what's a telephoto effect?