Simplified Chinese has a few advantages. It is definitely easier to learn and more widely used globally. However, it is still good to know traditional characters if you are really interested in Chinese culture. On top of that, there is a huge range of Chinese pop culture exports which originate from Hong Kong and Taiwan(music, mtvs, drama serials, movies...etc) so you certainly stand to gain if you can recognize traditional characters. Well... this simply is my personal opinion but I do feel that traditional characters are prettier too. =P

Dear, take the simplified ones, they r easy, popular. plus , I can teach u ~~~~~ talk to u later~

Simplified characters are used in mainland,while traditional characters are used mainly in Taiwan and Hongkong.Simplified characters are strongly recommended.

in the long future, i prefer simplified Chinese. Hongkong is beginning to change. Taiwan, maybe you can forget it, because they say they're not Chinese, so their language is not called Chinese nor Mandarin.

Hello, I come from Taiwan, so I can share my opinion with you. I think if you just want to learn it quickly or for business purpose, I suggest you to learn simplified characters. It's much easier to learn, also it's more popular. However, if you are interested in Chinese culture and history, I recommend you to learn traditional characters. It's much difficult, but you can know more about the meaning of the character. Another advantage to learn traditional one is that you can understand simplified character as well, but people who learn simplified character may not. It depends on the purpose you learn Chinese : )