Being bitcoin-clueless, that appears interesting; I've been willing to get some to do some transactions; some chinese sellers are starting to accept them for esoteric stuff -- they can't seem to easily to paypal and/or visa...
What put me off is the rather untruth-worthiness of the various 'exchanges'
I did a lot of mining very early in the game, then I sold most of them and started back but mainly as a trader in Coinbase, it's as safe as any exchange can possibly be, it has government compliance (so there's small chance that they will seize my money) and I can use my bank account/debit card to buy coins, so if you want to start safe, Coinbase is good advise.