after years with a point and shoot digital (sony dsc s70) i finally made the leap to a digital SLR.
the sony offered some basic manual controls, but i really wanted full reign over my camera and something i could get much more creative with. picking up a SLR was the way to go for me.
like PhotoDave219 said, the SLR gives you full control over your camera plus the freedom of inter-changeable lenses. this is completely liberating in the world of digital photography, because most point and shoot digital cameras have horrendous zooms (when shopping for a camera, disregard 'digital zoom' completely and only pay attention to the 'optical zoom').
though the prices of the lenses for SLR's can go thru the roof, the freedom and flexability is available.
i went with the canon 10D based on reviews and price and although i've only had it for a couple of days now, i know i made the right descision.
digital SLR's might be intimidating at first, but due to the fact that your shooting digitally and not on film there is a huge margin for error and learning... i spent the first few nights with the camera shooting a bunch of arranged objects to get a better grasp on depth of field as well as getting a feel for aperature priority, shutter priority and fully manual modes... yes, full auto mode is there, and great - but the reason i got an SLR was to get away from fully auto shooting
as far as quality versus film, i am totally digitally biased... i think the differences in quality is so miniscule (does this make me the average person) and with such a slight difference in quality and such a huge difference in cost (film and developing) it's just a no contest for me - DIGITAL wins
this is of course just my personal opinion tho...
to go digital SLR or point and shoot is really based on your needs:
point and shoots are great (i'm definately going to keep my sony around), and will take stellar shots - tho light on manual control over the camera's settings. they're great for a 'grab and go' camera - or for people who just want to take pictures without a hassle.
SLR's on the other hand, give you full control over your camera, offer much more flexibility and creativity, but are quite higher priced and dont fit so nicely into your pocket
hope this helps - and welcome to the world of digital photography