I am interested in learning a musical instrument (never played one before) what would you recommend?

I know nothing of musical theory and I can barely read music. I don't really have preference in instrument family (woodwind, brass, etc), but I was thinking maybe clarinet or flute. I want something easy to learn, I'm in my mid-20s and they say it gets harder to learn to play music as you get older. Also, I want something fairly cheap. I don't want to end up pay a few hundred for something I end up not playing. Thanks a lot!

I don't have any interest in learning to sing, and a lot of instruments interest me, but I can't decide which one will be easy enough to learn that I'll stick with it. A few instruments that are definitely out are the piano and drums. I don't have the room nor the money for those costly instruments.

Well, if you don't have an instrument, one way of deciding on what to play is what you can get free/cheap. You might be able to find something from Craigslist or your local paper for free or under $100. It helps to make the selection pretty random.

This is somewhat what dictated my clarinet selections, as it was the only instrument we had (my grandfather gave it to me).

I think the clarinet is awesome, it's not necessarily the easiest instrument, nor is it the hardest. It is a Bb (B flat) instrument, which means you'll be able to pick up almost any piece of piano sheet music and it'll sounds right, it is also the key that trumpets play, and is just an all around desirable key. Bands often tune to a trumpets or clarinets 'C'. You can often find them for $50 in the paper, requiring only minimal work, sometimes none. They are low maintenance, just keep the corks greased reeds protected.

The Piano

guitar, it's much easy

flute

the easiest thing i've learned to play is the clarinet. but i started in like 4th grade, so idk.

guitar is the easiest!!! HappyHolidays

If you want a cheap musical instrument - take singing lessons.

Other than that - choose something you are interested in, not just something for the sake of playing.

A lot of instruments can be hired, so you can do that until you are sure you want to buy.

Saxophone!!! From jazz to even punk (Fear comes up to mind as well as X-Ray Spex) to whatever genre you would categories Madness in (I wouldn't, they're too amazing to categorize).

...or a zither....which in my opinion is a form of harp...but differently shaped....bongo drums? I have small ones and they're lots of fun...

Flutes are good.

They're not too difficult to learn either. It's mainly a matter of learning to shape your lips properly- the rest is just fingering, and that comes with practice.
Something like a trumpet might seem like it would be easier, since it only has three keys, but it's actually quite difficult since you have to control the pitch more with your mouth and the amount of air you put through it.

Flutes are convenient because they're small and therefore easy to carry around.
Another convienient thing about flutes is that they are a 'C' instrument. That means that if you have piano music, you can play it on the flute without having to transpose into a different key. Trumpets are 'B flat' instruments, so it helps to have more of a theoretical background.

High quality flutes are expensive, but for a starter, you can usually find something not too bad in a pawn shop. A really bad flute will be discouraging, because it won't sound good no matter what. Trumpets are actually probably cheaper than flutes.

The only downside that I can think of when it comes to the flute, is that you can't sing along with it (as you can with a guitar.) I like to sing, so it saddens me that I don't play any instruments that I can sing along with.
Oh well.

I started playing clarinet when I was 11 and guitar when I was 12. Clarinet started off easier, but felt less rewarding to me. Guitar started off very hard, my fingers hurt and I didn't notice any progress at first, but I'm still playing every day 13 years later. I guess I'm biased. You can go to any pawn shop and get a cheapo guitar for 25-50 dollars. If you don't like it, sell it back. No big deal. You can also learn guitar without knowing how to read music or understand theory.