Welcome to the forum! I have two pages that may be helpful
http://umms.wordpress.com/converts/ <-- geared towards converts, but has a lot of links to introductory sites that are probably helpful for an enquirer as well
http://umms.wordpress.com/quran/ <-- a page of quran resources I just started putting together.
re: free quran, I highly highly highly recommend the program being done by CAIR -
http://explore*************/request-a-quran/american-public.html - I'm not sure why it's *** it out, but it's "explore the quran.com", with no spaces. Yes you have to put your information in, and you have to pay for shipping, but it is beyond worth it. The Qur'an they send you is beautiful, expensive, and has excellent footnotes.
re: rules. Honestly, Islam has A LOT of rules. It really does. They're not just there to make our life difficult, they're there so that every act we do is an act of submission to the Divine. I'm not a big rules person myself. I grew up in a mainline protestant church that was more into the Jesus loves you than into any kind of moral regulations. It's taken me several years to come to terms with the rules in Islam, but I think I'm getting there. I see them as a way to reach my Lord. By submitting to the way He wants me to live outwardly, and working to purify my inner self, I can know that what I am doing is pleasing to Him, and that I am taking steps towards Him so that He may run towards me.
Allah Most High says:
“Whomever is hostile to a friend of Mine I declare war against.
My slave approaches Me with nothing more beloved to Me than what I have made obligatory upon him, and My slave keeps drawing nearer to Me with voluntary works until I love him. And when I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he seizes, and his foot with which he walks. If he asks Me, I will surely give to him, and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely protect him. I do not hesitate from anything I shall do more than My hesitation to take the soul of the believer who dislikes death; for I dislike displeasing him” (Bukhari).
These rules are a means to draw near to Allah (swt), so that we can experience Him in the best possible way.