You can get Cubasis (an older, lighter version of Cubase) for around $70 online.... get that if you want to be able to do everything a beginner could imagine. For the money it is seriously good value.
As far as free stuff goes, check out www.download.com and do a search for freeware in the media section, plenty there with user reviews to help you along the way. Speaking from experience though, I only started being able to make reasonable stuff once I got Cubasis... once you get the hang of it and you get the fuinds together, you will find Cubase SX easy to use