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I did a project in both MCU and "discrete" IC's. I did go for the MCU in the end but that is because i realized I realy need one. There are many cicuit tricks that allow you to get around things without building a whole new circuit, for example if you are using comparators and need and and/or gate to combine their results you get open collector comparators and connect the ouputs together with a common resistor, your logic gate is then created without actually using a part which msy be 1/4 of a logic IC
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It is clear to anyone that having a good basis on electronics, and especially on basic analogue circuits is crucial for understanding and designing complex things.
If I plan to make a simple logic circuit, I must consider using an MCU, because a bunch of logic gates (besides being hardly flexible and reusable) could be more expensive and use too much space, even for an hobbist. And if I have by hand an MCU I'm sure I have inside it as many logic gates as I need...
I envy those EE that in the early days of digital expansion could challenge themselves in putting logic gates, ALUs, sequencers and memories (each one in its different IC) on a board, and were asked to invent everything...and were payed a lot!
But I feel like nowadays creativity in hardware design has poor space (and would have even less in the future), since almost every system tends to be made on the same principle (ADC, controller, ...), or at least it seems stupid to use a different approach. So, perhaps the difference between a brilliant and a quite good designer becomes narrower.... And it makes me sad 
I think it is better to start with something else, as many others said here above, but if you want to run before you can walk...
I found that using a USB PIC (in my case a 18F4550, but could certainly be 2550) with Microchip examples for firmware/software on PC is quite simple, requires little or no modifications to start. Surely, you need some programming skills (and very very limited hardware knowledge) to make something different than the examples, but of course there is the internet and the forums like this to find help. -
I guess I shouldn't be surprised that no one mentioned the MSP430. I would never have recommended it to someone who is just getting started before the LaunchPad came out.
Whats more important to you? Price, or support? If you want support and a good community, look for AVR or PIC (said in alphabetical order with no preferential ordering :-P). If you are just looking for the cheapest beginner kit you can find in case you decide you never want to touch a microcomputer again and just want to throw everything away. I recommend the MSP430 LaunchPad. Its the cheapest development kit out there and has everything you need to get started (at first).
Though if you really value support, look elsewhere. Just throwing the option out there. Nothing can beat it for price.
-NJC
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http://msp430launchpad.blogspot.com - A blog about the MSP430 Launchpad for beginners and experts. -
personally I'd just get a pic of choice (or other MCU brand I use pic) a breadboard and learn to program in C or Basic, I've found using Basic on pics very easy and changing MCU means just reading up the datasheet to get familiar with functions and registers and I'm away again, you get some premade thing and your also stuck to oine or two chips. you can easily make parts breadboard friendly or make your own breadboard breackout board