Hi dunnyg hope this is something you stick with, it takes time but is worth it.
The difference between American (and Andalucían) Spanish and Peninsular Spanish is principally around the pronunciation of the following spellings:
z : ce : ci : which are a 'th' sound in Spain but an an 's' sound in America.
Some good recommendations above, I would add
http://lingro.com where you paste in the web address of any online article so you read it through their site- then click on any words for an instant translation. Quite handy.
http://wordreference.com (also links to collins) for a good online dictionary, forums can tell you lots about usage of words as well as definitions.
http://www.audiria.com has various podcasts
http://www.languagesonline.org.uk/ online grammar and vocab exercises from beginner to A level
http://oye.languageskills.co.uk/index.html for games, no subscription required outside of school daytime hours
For news:
http://www.elmundo.es and
http://www.elpais.com Spanish newspapers online [mobile apps available]
http://www.20minutos.es/ Accessible reading and video clips. [mobile app available]
http://www.rtve.es News (noticias), Live TV (television en directo), Live radio (RNE en directo) and links to RNE poscasts, documentaries (“Somos Documentales”), weather, cinema, food… [mobile app available]
http://es.euronews.com/noticias/en-directo TV Euronews in Spanish-with transcripts
http://www.lasportadas.es/('headlines') se cover pages from around the Spanish speaking world - app (widget) available.