The bagpipes seem to be increasing in popularity. They add flavor to Braveheart, Titanic & Mystic Knights of Tirnanog (strictly speaking, these aren't the Great Highland Bagpipe, but the Irish parlor instrument, the Uillean Pipes). They've appeared in numerous movies. Rock bands like Garbage and Korn feature a pipe player. In some locales, they've always been popular. Regardless of the reason, more people are interested in learning this instrument.
Learning the guitar is easy, by comparison. Music stores, sheet music and instructions are readily located using the Yellow Pages. The prospective pipe player won't find much using this resource. Attending a Celtic festival, Renaissance Faire or Highland Games can score a palpable hit (but at inflated prices). Searching the Internet yields better results, but can result in a confusing wealth of information (much of it intensely interesting). I searched Yahoo, using "bagpipes" as a search term, and located the rec.music.makers.bagpipe FAQ, a list of organizations, a sparse list of bagpipe teachers and probably the best collection of pipe tunes I've encountered yet.
Both because a set of pipes is a considerable investment and because you can't play them right out of the box, the first items on your list should be a practice chanter (preferably a long one), a tutorial book/cassette and maybe even a tutorial video. I'll discuss learning to produce notes (as opposed to squawks or squeals) in the next installment.
In the mean time, some interesting links for your further reading.
The Role of the Drone & Counterpoint in the Development of Harmony.
Denny Hall takes us to BagpipeLand
Seamus MacNeill's notes to the Lismor CD release, "Worlds Greatest Pipers" (LCOM9015)
An online picture encyclopedia.
Great Highland bagpipes for beginners
An advertisement for Care & Maintenance of Bagpipes
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