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Meh, its mostly on the delivery I'd suppose.

One last thing, while Aikido has some useful grip-breaking and restraining techniques, the fancy techniques that require you to grab someone's wrist while he's trying to punch you just don't work in the chaos of a real fight. Many Aikido techniques will get you hurt if you attempt them in an actual fight.

Case in point: I can direct you to dozens of videos where BJJ practitioners use armbars against resisting opponents (grappling matches, MMA fights, street fights and no-rules challenge fights) but I have yet to see an Aikido practitioner use even a basic Aikido technique such as kote gaeshi against a resisting opponent.

I did try going to an Aikido/Daito Ryu seminar that was recommended to me; seemed like they were very particular on ways to stop someone's hand while reaching for a sword, movements in a sense were very situationally esoteric; my impression was that it was much more like a Japanese version of medeival reinactment than something you'd want to use on the street (not to diss the Aikido people - I'm sure there are some incredibly practical ways of boiling down the information, Steven Segal makes it look quite good, but without that or blending with other arts I'm really not so sure on it).

With the OP I think he/she is trying to find something entry-level and they really aren't giving much clue to their committment. For those really looking to find the baddest of the bunch in terms of sheer nastiness and street applicability I'd still say some combination of Kali (the American varients will include things like Arnis, Pantantukan, etc.) and a Hakka strain of Kuntao; some Silats may be comparable as well. Particularly with the Filipino stuff there's barely anything nastier out there; with Kali you're popping out eyes, taring off junk all while breaking fists, joints, etc. on your way in. Combine that with Kuntao (militarized mid-to-close range Kung Fu from Southern China) or Silat and you're pretty much a human breaking wheel.

The very first martial um marshall art I have ever trained in was judo. That was in 1986 when ninjas, karate kid, boxing and all stand up fighting styles were popular. I have heard many boxers and karate guys tell grappling was useless. They would knock me out on my way in. I felt like crap about training in judo and wanted to quit and I did by 1990.

But on November 12, 1993, Royce Gracie showed the whole world how grappling is an integral part of fighting/self defense.

Never have I felt so vindicated and validated as a judo guy. I took up judo and BJJ in concurrence in 2000 (before its popularity was what it is now)...II trained in it relentlessly and was obsessed with it. I purchased books and DVDs to learn all techniques I could...Eventually work and other obligations in my life prevented me to train and slowly I grew apart from those arts.

I earned a brown belt in judo (though my throws sucked) but I never earned my blue belt.

It was fun but I moved onto other things.

I'm going to be taking Jeet Kune Do in the New Year as I like the basis for practical self-defense as well as integrating Bruce Lee's ideals of stress relief, confidence building, etc. I really want to try Keysi Fighting Method (Christian Bale fighting in the Batman films with his hands up around his ears?) as it is again practical but they had only a couple studios in the US and I'm not to big into downloading their videos and trying it out in my not to large basement, god knows I'd break things by accident!

Wrt the effectiveness of Aikido, If I really wanted some iron-clad self-defense for "The Street," I wouldn't take up BJJ; I'd get a concealed carry permit and or take a self-defense class from the police. BJJ's good if you end up on the ground, but what happened before you got there? Judo's great for teaching how to handle a resistant uke, except that you aren't allowed to hit him when he resists. Karate's great for hitting people and knocking them out, but what if it's your cousin acting up at a wedding?

My sensei once said, "Self-defense is the ugly by-product of aikido," but I think that could be extrapolated out to any martial art. Training in a dojo is never going to prepare you for a real, full-speed interaction with someone who is genuinely trying to hurt you, but it can get you to practice being aware of your surroundings, having a good base, and not freaking out when someone grabs or hits you. Beyond that it depends as much on how fast your reaction time is and on how willing you are to hurt the other guy as it does on how much training you have, at least with the vast majority of modern dojo settings.
I train in aikido, as most martial artists train in their arts, because it is fun for me. If I do get some self-defense out of it - and I think I do get some very basic stuff - it's the ugly by-product, not the main point.

Exactly. It seems like most martial arts have an area that they're strong (as you mentioned - stand up, ground, sometimes mid to close, sometimes long distance), and a lot of the schools these days knowing that are starting to blend and fold in systems to accomodate. For ground some knowledge of Jiu Jitsu is essential, for standup things like modified Wing Chun (more focus on the fighting than Chi Sao) is essential, and for restraint on those who lets say are drunk at a wedding systems like Aikido or Chin Na do offer a lot of options.

I'd agree with you as well though that different people choose different arts based on what they want; what their priorities are between sport, fitness, and self-defense, how they feel about the particular energy or ambient aspects of the particular art itself and the attitudes that come with it, etc.. Admittedly for my own school I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, lots of people get frustrated and leave in the first month who've even had experience in other arts while some beginners with no experience just have the right mindset where they can process it and they dig in without getting phased by the complexity up front. Per martial art it seems like the choice is mostly a mindset thing for the particular student.

If you are looking for self defense and a good workout get involved with martial arts that focus on the striking aspect and the grappling/ground aspect. Striking is where it all begins, and most people only know how to strike. So it's good to know what most everyone knows, and be good at it, but you also can take advantage of someone who is better than you at striking by learning clinch techniques, how to take people down, and wrestling/jiu jitsu submissions. Before you decide to do anything, make sure to research any facility which you may intend on joining, in order to make sure the people who run it and organize it are serious and educated people. There are some "mcdojos" out there ran by crazed, unintelligent wannabes, who will screw you over for your money.