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I'd like to tell you a story:-

Once upon a time there was this bloke called Dave blah blah blah.

To cut a long story short I was adamant when I was buying a DSLR that I was going to get a Nikon D40, went to my local photography shop with a view to buying one and tried it thought I may as well try the Canon 350D whilst I was there and it just felt right for me, the controls felt better it was more comfortable and intuitive so ended up with that instead, I am now on my 3rd Canon DSLR (not that any of them broke just upgraded). It was not that I hated the Nikon BTW it just didn't feel right for me.

As others have said it is important you try the goods to see which feels right for you. Also when you get into it and inevitably buy more lenses and other goodies you will find it harder when upgrading to break away from the brand you choose so it is worth taking that into account also.

If you do go down the Canon route then other than the built in speedlite transmitter and flip out screen there is not a lot of difference between the 550D and 600D so can understand why you have leaned towards that however if you later buy an external flash which if you get into it you almost certainly will then the speedlite transmitter will let you fire the flash off camera which give great creative control also the vari-angle screen will be really handy for live view with those tricky angled shots (just points to consider).

Good luck and let us know what you decide.