well basically there are steel string and nylon string guitars, both of them have some slightly different types, but they arent that much different from each others.
basically steel string is much harder(physically) to play and requires getting used to much more and training your fingers more, not only will it require more force and training more strength, but it will also rape the skin on your fingers till you get used to it and your fingers grow thicker skin, which will go away if you dont play in a while. nylon strings are much easier to play, requires less force and isnt as rough on your fingers, also the space between the strings is usually larger, so its easier not to accidentally have your fingers touch other strings and ruin the tone. the neck of nylon guitars is flat, while it usually curves a bit in steel string acoustic and electric guitars, its bit easier to play most of the stuff with flat neck.
steel string guitars are much more louder, maybe too loud if you arent interested on performing to your neighbors and want to play with a pick.
steel strings obviously make different sound from nylon strings, which sound you prefer is naturally up to you(i like sound of nylon more), but usually nylon string is better for beginners, because your fingers wont bleed and get blistered in 2 minutes of playing for the first few weeks and its overall easier to play with nylon string.
This post was edited by Antichrist- on Dec 25 2012 01:04pm