if you really want to learn about photography and not just take decent pictures, i would get a cheap old 35mm slr. unless your in school you probably wont have access to a lab to learn to develop or anything but it will still help you learn alot more than getting an expensive dslr and shooting in auto mode.

but to directly answer your question i would go with nikon

 

I want the D90 for the video purposes, and that's pretty much it. I'll stick with my D40 until I get a 5D, or at least a full frame camera.