I feel like Eben should have kept going. When you tell people to buy a steel frame, that's not the whole message -- what you're really saying is don't buy a new bike at all.
Because the least sensical purchase in cycling, if you're at all trying to make use of your money, is a new steel frame. Last I checked, you can't even get one from the big two bike companies in the U.S.
So, if you go to, say, Ritchey for a nice steel frame, it's like $1,700 for the frame alone. And I think that's a frame made in Asia, no lugs -- not picking on Ritchey; I mention them because I think their frames are nice examples of an attractive steel bikes.
Meanwhile, the used market is crowded with steel frames made of the best tubing, lugs, hand brazing, etc., for peanuts -- sometimes less than $100.
You can go to eBay and find handmade Italian steel frames with top Columbus tubing all day long for less than $400. If you got one professionally refinished and repainted, it'd still cost less than a new steel frame and be a show stopper.
Or just buy a full 531 Trek frame for a couple hundred. Silver brazed lugs, handmade in Wisconsin.
When he's talking about buying steel, Eben is really arguing for rescuing your bike, not getting it from the breeder.