i'm just beginning and planning on taking lessons, so which electric piano would be the best bet for me?

If you're just looking for a really cheap keyboard with weighted keys, you should look at the casio cdp 100. I got one because it was the cheapest one i could find. It's perfect just to learn on. You'd probably want to upgrade to something better later on, but this keyboard is perfect for me, because i'm not really advanced. lol. I hope this helps

The one thing most people forget to talk about is weighted vs unweighted keys. If you are going to learn piano to any level of seriousness, then get an 88 key weighted keyboard. I got my Casio 88 weighted key PF-100 Privia for 250.00 brand new. Normally those will run closer to 500.00+ but mine was a showroom model, so I got a deal.

Weighted keys really make all the difference and feel very much like a regular piano. There is nothing wrong with learning on an old piano too. There is a reason you start on a real piano. Electric ones with 61 keys and no weights will teach you some really bad habits that you cannot apply when you get on a real piano. I also found an old Rhodes for 25.00 at a garage sale and it has weighted keys, but only 77 of them.

Are you sure you aren't really looking for a digital electronic piano, not an electric piano? Go to these sites to learn the difference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_piano and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_piano.

There are many other things to consider as well is if you want MIDI functionality, which means you can hook up other keyboards or sound modules or even your computer to your piano. The reason I bought a lower end digital electric piano was because it had MIDI and then I could hook that into my MIDI network and I could play weighted keys on keyboards that did not have weighted keys.

The one thing I later learned was that the Casio did not broadcast on all the MIDI channels, and thus had some serious issues when I wanted to multitrack sequence. I learned to put my piano tracks on channels 1 or 2 and then I was fine. The other channels I ran all the other sounds including strings, drums, bass, etc. There are other work arounds as well, that let me use the Casio on other tracks.

Most people just want an electric piano, digital or analog that plays and sounds like a real piano. There are actually 3 types. Digital, Analog, and Analog with MIDI which is a hybrid (These are older being made in the 1980s).

I think Roland (which is the owner of Rhodes now) makes a nice line of digital pianos. I also like Yamaha pianos since they are typically better priced than Roland. Casio makes a full line of digital pianos and they are even less expensive. The actual play on any of these is very nice and very close to a real piano.

There are also all the sythesizers of all the various types, and then the MIDI workstations, and home studios that include sequencers and computers. There is no best way in any of these scenarios, and this would be a very long discussion. MIDI and it's newer variants go on and on, and it is very complex. If anyone wants to talk about that subject, I am more than happy to participate. I have a very complete home MIDI system and use computers, sequencers, and many different types of keyboards to record. I have been doing MIDI for over 20 years so start a thread someone and I will jump in!

Re: "The reason I bought a lower end digital electric piano...."

There is no such thing as a "digital electric piano" (unless you mean you play it with your digits): All digital pianos are necessarily electronic, not electric. The Rhodes and the Wurlitzer are examples of electric pianos. These are no longer manufactured.

Rhodes are once again made and were introduced back in January of this year. They referred to these as Rhodes Electric pianos. Roland sold it back to Harold Rhodes and the new line is now out. There are web sites you can see the new Rhodes electric pianos, and they are the classic Rhodes Electric pianos we have all come to love. These are the true electric pianos with many of the moving parts like a real piano. I own one of the classic analog electric rhodes of the 1970s. These are great keyboards!

See all the 2007 models at this web site:
http://www.rhodespiano.com/rhodes_products.htm

For the record Rhodes pianos made by Roland are called digital electric pianos becuase the sounds originate from a PCM style sampled (a digital source as opposed to an analog) source and they kept the electric part because they are emulating the electric sound of the classic Rhodes. Mine is an analog electric piano, and has no moving parts like the early 1965-197x Rhodes pianos. Mine is circa 1975. My casio piano is also a digital emulation of the classic electric piano.

SO, Rhodes are still made, as for Wurlitzers, they are bell tone electric pianos getting the sound from bells (vibe like bells also called steel reeds) that are struck inside the keyboard and picked up on analog pickups not so different from guitar pickups. These are not made anymore that is true. These are stil being used by some musicians who favor the vibraphone like sound.