Mountain Biking - Can't find cranks for 8 speeds

I've looked at pricepoint, nashbar, jenson, etc, etc and it seems like the only cranks you can buy are for 9 speeds. Whats up with that??? My bikes uses an 8 speed crank with 42/34/24 sprockets and it's like impossible to find a good replacement. Does this mean I need to go with a new crank, chain and 9 speed cassette when I upgrade???

A nine speed crank should work fine with an eight speed drivetrain. They are interchangable. :D

I guess dropping teeth won't be too big of a deal, not like I'm speeding thru the trails anyway.. LOL

Thanks for the help

The only thing that is incompatible between 8 & 9 is the shifter itself (even this will work sometimes) the rear cog itself & the chain.
Any thing on the front will work (derailer / cranks / chainrings) with 8 or 9.

I just replaced my crankset with 9spd but running 8spd, the rings work fine.
The problem I had was the splined cranks required a MUCH wider BB than the original square taper, when tightened the small chainring was hitting the BB.

I think when I do upgrade to the new 9 speed crank I'll get a BB that goes with and just redo the entire thing all at once and save myself the headache.