Personally I don't like credit cards with any annual fee. however; it depends on why you need the card. Always remember plastic money will screw you up if you start misusing it. Annual fee, interest rate (specially high rate above 9.99%), late fee, over the limit fee (not sure if this still exists), finance charges, credit protection program (I would suggest you stay away from these) etc. all add up the credit balance you use. Be careful and be smart about it.
Live within your means, don't over indulge yourself in credit cards thinking you can afford to buy expensive goods/services and make small payements each month. These payment plans which includes the interest rates and periodical finance charges will, in the long run,  cost you more than the base price of the goods and service you initially would have paid for.  A lot of time, my trick is to think that I don't have any credit at my disposal and ask myself would I have bought any goods/services given the scenario I only had cash to pay for it.

Yes, use the cards to build you credit history but never over spend and buy stuff that you don't need or can't afford to buy regardless of rewards or no rewards associated. Use cash as much as possible.