Only having been brewig for approximately 6mths myself, I went through this same question when accumulating bottles. It is amazing how many friends and volunteering of bottles you find when they think some of them will come back full
Here's my take and I am happy with it so far:
PET Bottles- are just wonderfully practical. Re-usable lids, easy to clean and allow you to squeeze to test for progress (a good part of the learning phase of how long it takes different beer types to carbonate fully and early sign for any issues with amount of yeast present in your brew at bottling stage). I think these belong in anyone's repertoire. Their only downside is not being able to drink straight from the bottle. A lot lighter to shift around than empty glass botltes....
I should mention I also use these to store my long-term cellared beers. I have got family visiting me in a few months and I have labelled some PET bottles so we can crack them and do a taste test of my first 'Year of Beer'.
James Squire Bottles- they are only 345ml but just look and feel so great. It was also this superior product that made me realise that there was so little character/flavour in other mass produced beers. They are fast getting over priced so it was ironically another catalyst to moving to brew your own and stop me buying them. It is good if you only want to have one or two or are sharing a social beer with neighbour or want to take a bunch (as I did) to have your friends try your work. This way you can distribute a lot of beers without giving away the majority of your batch- it is more the time involved in brewing than being tight with money for me on this. One month brewing a cared for beer can go in one heavy BBQ with a bunch of guzzlers! Also, if you plan to take beers to other people's houses, it is a lot less disconcerting to lose a few of these to the recycling bin as someone else will get you some new empties soon enough. You don't want to take a load of beers to a party and be the sad bloke who collects all the empties back...
I also love the motto embossed on the glass which is pertinent to my motive for starting "Never Forsake Flavour"
German Wheat Beer Bottles (Franzescaner/Wheinstephaner)- these are 500ml so shy of an aussie 'tallie' but, as my friend puts it "A beer should really be half a litre". Anything smaller means you are going to be left unsatisfied, even if you only want one. These are my favourites as they are a decent height for my fridge to stand and mean that you don't have to overcommit if you open one and then realise you don't really need it all. Pours nicely into a large stein or other beer glass.
I should mention that if you go down the route I have (varying bottle sizes) you really need to get into the habit of bulk-priming as if you are dropping glucose tablets into individual bottles, getting the right or consistent amount is going to be a nightmare.
When I bottle, I tend to use a variety of sizes and put myself in a position to know what beer is in what bottle by using different colour caps (on the JS/German beer bottles) and printed labels on the PET bottles. As mentioned, I tend to use the PET bottles for cellaring so my number of PETs 'in rotation' is dwindling but they are still used for drinking sooner rather than later.
Don't forget, also, that the bigger the bottles, the lesser number you need to use. I am still not bothered by the bottling/cleaning process and the time consumption involved (must mean I am a true lover of the product!) but if you find you are getting fed up with the hassle of bottling, you'd better get collecting some tallies quicksmart!
Finally, I can definitely understand why a lot of folk think kegging is the future (I would agree with this) but I love being able to drink my own beer out of my favoured bottles and also being able to show up at social events with other beer nerds and handing them a botle of my latest attempt.
Hope this is of use.
