Souk:
This is the best website I have found explaining all the terms and making pretty good recommendations. I liked their website so much I was considering ordering from them. That's until my buddy felt sorry for me missing game with my long bow and gave me his old bow with the training wheels.
Hunter's Friend, America's Busiest Archery Store ... Discount Compound Bows and Hunting Equipment
Compound Bow Selection Guide - HuntersFriend.COM
How to Determine Your Draw Length: Archery Help
Like Vash said, going to the local archery shops that usually have a range makes the best sense. Take some classes and use their bows that they give you for the class. Usually they let you shoot new stuff off the shelf too if you are in the market for buying one.
In the end it doesn't matter what you get, the name brands are all good. You may find a used one that got traded in - that may be taking the edge off of it. In the end, for basic hunting out to 40 yards, practice is much more important than any name brand bow that's under 10 years old ...
G