No matter what camera you get, if you really want to learn how to take pictures, use the manual settings, if they exist on the camera. This way, you will understand the relationship between shutter speed and F-stops. All you need to learn that is a functioning light meter in your camera.
Once you start to understand that, next you can start to experiment with what shutter speeds work best with the type of photography you are doing. (Ex: taking pics of cars? A higher shutter speed will get you a sharper image, but you don't want to go too high, for then you elminate the 'blur' of the wheels which give the pic a sense of motion).
These days, it is very easy for people to take pictures without any understanding of even basic photography -- but understanding the basics will allow you to take much better pictures. And you can't learn this with a camera that will do everything for you -- you have to be able to 'color outside the lines' at times.
If you can find a good 50mm lens for your camera instead of a zoom lens, you will find that the images will be sharper. Yeah, you loose the functionality of a zoom lens, but it will also force you to compose your pictures with more creativity as well!
-Z-man.
PS: I learned photography on a low-end flim SLR with a broken light meter!