you're all fucking idiots except parker (possibly the first and last time i'll say that). at the introductory level, there is no difference between a canon and nikon, it's all personal preference, and if you say otherwise you're an elitist fuck that should be stabbed.
basically, go to best buy/circuit city, find a camera that you like and feels good to you, then go online and do some research about it, that's your best option.
all you're going to get here is people's skewed opinion's since they've only ever owned one model of camera and just assume that theirs is the best.