Ok ill give you a few details that you would want to look at if you wonder into your local PC store.
Depends on where you live, prices will be different but 1500$ will get you a nice PC.
It seems like you want a Basic computer with some room for a possiable upgrade.
Specs.. Buy something with at lease - 512MB of RAM. You want a CPU that you wont need to upgrade for awhile so buy a CPU around 3Mhz (last you long time). Becuase you want music and some games it would be good to have a 80GB hard drive so you can save alot of music or even videos. A CD burner is a must becuase we all love burning our tunes and playing them in the Car. You can go a DVD burner if you want to burn DVD's
OH remember that not all computer come with Microsoft Office (word,excel) so make sure it comes with some WORD document software.