While development kit and device programmer are now cheaper than they were before, i hope and i really think all of theses JDM and all other freebies will die.

PICKIT 2 is probably the best to begin. ~40$, and support most popular PICs. Actual supported device list can be found bellow
http://www.microchip.com/stellent/id...cName=en027813

Pretty bad MPLAB support, but nothing is perfect.

40 bucks for and hassle free programmer, it's nothing.

I no longer suggest Picstart, but ICD-2 or any Elnec (BK precision) programmer are really nice, support too.