Jason,
If your just looking for a simple pre-fold cloth diaper, I would suggest buying a few birdseye cloth pin type diapers and see how they work for you. You will need to buy some type diaper cover and to keep things simple, I would suggest just buying a few vinyl pants. You can purchase a pant known as PUL pants which have a breathable material Vs. vinyl pants which is probably the type of diaper cover you wore when you were 7, or 8 yrs old.
Many here DO wear cloth diapers for night use because of there absorbency, and disposables during the day, but there are some here that wear cloth diapers 24/7 for a number of reasons. I hope I don't add to your confusion, but there are advantages, and disadvantages of BOTH cloth diapers, and disposables. I wore cloth diapers (birdseye), 24/7 for several years before continuing on with my current combination of wearing disposables by day, and cloth at night unless I'm away from home then I just use disposables 24/7.
I never gave much thought about all the information hat was available to someone like yourself just looking for the basics. I guess it would be overwhelming to read about the many different types of cloth diapers available now days compared to 30 yrs ago.
There are MANY places you can purchase "quality" cloth diapers from online, but above all, DON'T substitute quality for cheap cloth diapers. You will need to determine if you want a heavier weight diaper with more absorbency commonly known as a "night weight diaper", or a lighter weight diaper with less absorbency known as a "day diaper". I used the night weight diaper 24/7. Day, or night the use of the more absorbent cloth diaper worked fine for me during the day. Some will contend that cloth diapers have too much bulk. For some, this maybe true, but I never thought wearing the night weight cloth diaper during the day under my pants was noticeable especially if you wear lose fitting pants and a shirt that you DON'T tuck in. What little bulk I had was almost not noticeable, and wearing a shirt that would hang down some made it pretty much impossible to notice what little bulk there was.
I would recommend buying cloth diapers from one of the two companies below;
Adult Cloth Diaper Company (ACD) -
http://www.adultclothdiaper.com Fetware -
http://www.fetware.com As mentioned, there are MANY places that sell quality diapers on the Internet, but the companies mentioned above is where I buy all my cloth diapers so I know first hand the quality is high, and the price is "reasonable" compared to most.
Diaper covers - Everyone has an opinion, and I have mine. I DON'T like any of the vinyl pants sold by Adult Cloth Diaper Company. Maybe it's me, but there is something about how the elastic fits on the vinyl pants they sell. I just don't care for how elastic fits at the waist, and legs compared to manufactures. I think the cloth diapers they sell are among some the best, but not the vinyl they sell so my suggestion is only buy cloth diapers from this company.
Don't be fooled by their name, but Babykins, or sometimes called KINS sells some of the best vinyl diaper covers on the market. I've not found any company that sells "quality" diaper covers that does not sell adult baby items as well. I buy either the semi transparent color vinyl pants, or white. I don't know of any "white" color vinyl pants this company sells that are a 'true" white color. Often times they list a color as being "white", but the vinyl pants are actually semi transparent in color. Again, this company sells some of the best vinyl diaper covers on the market, but in my opinion, they sell some of the worst cloth diapers, so DON'T buy any of their cloth diapers,....just buy their diaper covers.
Babykins -
http://www.babykins.com Another company that sells quality diaper covers is a company that I've mentioned in the above that also sells quality cloth diapers. The name of this company is Fetware, with a link provided above.
I would suggest you keep it simple and stick to just the basics. You might decide latter to try pocket diapers, contour diaper, etc., but if you follow my suggestions, I know you will not go wrong.
Hope this helps.