udev ignores permissions file

I've just completed a stage 1 reinstall of Gentoo on my iBook.  I have
not, as of yet, altered any of the udev configuration files.  The default
udev.conf says this:# udev_permissions - The name and location of the udev permission file
udev_permissions="/etc/udev/permissions.d/"

In /etc/udev/permissions.d/, there is a file entitled
"50-udev.permissions".  This file contains the following lines:# audio devices
[...]
snd/*:root:audio:0660
[...]
sndstat:root:audio:0660

And yet the permissions on the contents of /dev are:
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/sndstat
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 24 Feb  5 09:28 /dev/sndstat -> /proc/asound/oss/sn
bash-2.05b$ ls -l /dev/snd
total 0
crw-------  1 meredith audio 116,  0 Feb  4 12:13 controlC0
crw-------  1 meredith audio 116, 24 Feb  5 09:28 pcmC0D0c
crw-------  1 meredith audio 116, 16 Feb  5 09:28 pcmC0D0p
crw-------  1 meredith audio 116,  1 Feb  4 12:13 seq
crw-------  1 meredith audio 116, 33 Feb  4 12:13 timer

Other devices have also been given semi-random permissions.
Obviously I can just run chown and chmod as a temporary fix, but I'd
rather have a udev system that actually works the way it's supposed to. 
What on earth is going on here, and how do I fix it?The default udev.conf file is attatched.
Thanks,
Meredith Shepherd

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# /etc/udev/udev.conf:  main config file for udev
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/sys-fs/udev/files/udev.conf.post_024,v 1.2 2004/06/07 22:36:18 gregkh Exp $
#
# This file can be used to override some of udev's default values
# for where it looks for files, and where it places device nodes.


# udev_root - where in the filesystem to place the device nodes
udev_root="/dev/"

# udev_db - The name and location of the udev database.
#           NOTE: this should be somewhere that is writable before
#                 / is mounted rw, like /dev ...
udev_db="/dev/.udev.tdb"

# udev_rules - The name and location of the udev rules file
udev_rules="/etc/udev/rules.d/"

# udev_permissions - The name and location of the udev permission file
udev_permissions="/etc/udev/permissions.d/"

# default_mode - set the default mode for all nodes that have no 
#                explicit match in the permissions file
#                NOTE: do not set to anything else if you are not
#                      sure you have everything needed for normal
#                      user to function in the permissions file!
default_mode="0660"

# udev_log - set to "yes" if you want logging
udev_log="yes"