Well, since my birthday was Saturday, I went and bought a trainer. The nice man at REI explained it all to me, and I only remember 25% of it but I did buy something Their selection:

Wind trainer: good road feel, but noisy, fairly inexpensive ($159). Automatic-ish resistance increase (as you shift/pedal harder, resistance increases).

Magnetic resistance trainer: less expensive ($159), manual adjustment (some had 3 different levels of resistance) with a slight adjustment as you shift also.

Automatic magnetic resistance trainer: a little more expensive ($209), with automatic adjustment with shifting (just like the magnetic resistance trainer but without having to set your difficulty ahead of time).

Fluid trainer: most expensive ($229), most road feel, best automatic resistance adjustment.

Since it was my birthday, I of course bought the most expensive model, especially after the REI dude told me it was the most road-like feel. I also bought a little riser dealie for the front wheel so it wouldn't move around -- it sure made a difference as far as height and balance goes. I felt very stable.

Putting the trainer together was easy, mounting the bike on it was difficult with just one person (I made my husband help). I rode for about 30 minutes this morning after being totally depressed for not being able to jog 4 miles (I ran a half marathon on Sunday and today my running muscles said NO). My legs felt better and I did like the feel of a trainer. The manual says it is equivalent to something like rough asphalt, and I suppose that's accurate. It does take some getting used to, and doesn't feel exactly like the road, but I found it to be a very efficient workout (I could keep my heart rate a lot more consistent).

My trainer (from Kinetic -- http://www.kurtkinetic.com ) came with a Spinervals DVD that I haven't tried yet -- this one (Competition 23.0, Time Saver I). The three 30-minute workouts were rated 7.5, 9.5, and 9.9 so I am a little bit intimidated I would like to try some other Spinervals DVDs but there are a lot to choose from (I did find this one that's multisport oriented, a 65 minute workout with bike and strength training).

Still looking at the DVDs I should get, but otherwise I'm so far happy with my trainer. My bike is in the living room right now, though