how much to buy in for?

[shirze]

I'm making the transition from limit to NL, currently playing NL25 at party. I've read a few books, done lots of reading here, but have only played a few thousand hands so far. i started by buying in 20bb (miller's short stack strategy) but felt i wasn't really learning how to play. but i don't know how much to buy in for. some posts here advise buying in for the max but i'm afraid of burning through my bankroll before i learn the ropes. but i also dont want to buy in for too little and not have the chips to play all the streets properly.
any advice? thanks!