I recently bought a fujifilm SLR-like midrange. It is the Fuji Finepix S700. I couldn't be happier. My parents gave me their hand-me-down 35mm Canon SLR a while back and I needed a new digital to get into the digital age. Every day I passed this camera at work (I work at a dept. store) and eyed it. I finally caved, tried it out, read online reviews, and bought it. I really felt that I got the best "bang for my buck" out of this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Fujifilm-Finep...5922640&sr=8-1
So naturally, I'm going to suggest the Fuji. I did look into the S8000 and it looks awesome! I didn't need anything more than 8mp, and I really didn't want to pay for shipping (or skip my employee discount at work) so I didn't get it. Fuji is quite possibly the best brand for mid-range shoppers. Everything else is highly overpriced. My sister and my girlfriend both bought Sony's Cybershot Cameras, both 7MP and payed about $250; while I only payed $199. I have to agree with Fatty, the Finepix series is very intuitive, it takes great pictures even when you aren't setting your own f-stops, aperture, and film speed.
In short: go for the fuji!