I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basket..
get some bitcoins, but invest in some altcoins as well.
YES, btc are the most popular and everything, but when btc crashes or when the difficulty rises extremely, altcoins like ppcoin, litecoin namecoin etc might be very useful.
The other eggs should be non-virtual currency stuff.
If Bitcoin dies all other cryptocurrencies will also be in big trouble due to the loss of trust in them, unless there is one that outshines Bitcoin abilities and therefore replaces it (which there isn't atm).
If you have a lot of knowlegde about the topic you may put your bet on some niche altcoins, but it's defintely nothing to recommend a newbie.
