Thanks for the various responses.
To address some of the comments, unattributed and in no particular order:
I'm looking to spend less than $500. In the future I'll be willing to spend more on an acoustic, but for now I want to keep it cheap for several reasons, especially: (1) I don't know if I'm really going to stick with this, and if I don't, I don't want to be out too much money; (2) I don't know what kind of guitar I'll want, down the line; even if I were willing to spend $3000 right now I wouldn't want to get one kind of guitar and then discover that it's not the best-suited type for the style I've evolved; (3) if I get a guitar that's too good right now, I'll have less of an excuse to upgrade later :-).
I know the A&L wild cherry models are laminate tops, but the cedar and spruce models are solid. In any case, that's not going to be a driving factor behind this purchase--I'm specifically not getting this for the long haul, as just discussed.
I'm not inherently wedded to these brands, and I did try a few others (a Fender, an Ibanez) when I was shopping. I'll end up with the guitar I like best, but it seems sensible to start with widely liked models.
I will absolutely want to get an electric at some point, and while I will have a lot of questions about this step, I'm not ready to ask them yet. When I do get there, I'm likely to be willing to spend more than $99, though.
