To address your second question, think of digital as a more forgiving film. Film in many ways is easier, you're limiting yourself (per roll) to an ISO of 200-1600 (for the run of the mill beginner). It isn't as forgiving as digital because of the commitment you're making each time you take the picture. Sure you could use each one as a learning tool after processing (if you just take them to the store to get the processed), but the money you saved initially in camera body is now always going into film and development.
Digital is free film, so long as you have some editing tools (any photo editing program) and a computer to work at. With so many options on both cameras it does take time to learn what each setting does, and even more time to learn what to do in any given situation. But with digital for the higher upfront cost of lenses and body, you have more wiggle room in processing, since you no longer need to worry about how you'll get your pictures into your camera. Scanners aren't bad, but I prefer to only use them for scanning documents not images.
There is a lot to learn about mega pixel. If you go digital people will tell you higher is better, to a very small degree and in specific situations this is true enough. For the average consumer, not so much.
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.htm Ken does a great job of explaining mega pixels here. Before you buy your camera, go in knowing a lot about the ones you want to look at and what you want them to do. Most camera salesmen are about as bad as car dealers and often have little to no photog skills. There are exceptions, but don't rely too much on good objective help at bestbuy, circuit city or big retailers like that. Knowledge will save you a lot of time and money :D
Good luck! Ken also has extensive reviews on various digital single lens reflect (dSLR) cameras, so cruise around his site for a while and soak in some knowledge. There is a lot of reading, but you'll be better off in the end.