I also do some self-study. I have read Pinter's book, and I liked it. I think it is a fantastic introduction to Abstract Algebra. I am currently doing Harvard's extension course on Abstract Algebra -which you can find on youtube- and uses Artin. I can say I am not a big fan of it. Someone else recommended Aluffi's chapter 0, which I have also tried (not the whole thing, of course), and I like it.
Edit: To elaborate on why I dislike Artin, I think the text is ok, and the book's content is quite appealing. I have read almost only the assigned readings for the course, but I checked the ToC, and it includes chapters on representation theory and sections on algebraic geometry. HOWEVER, I feel the exercises are not good relative to the text (1st ed.). Frequently I couldn't answer several of the assigned exercises because what was written in the text was simply not enough to answer them. I mean, it is ok to do some research for some questions, but I think the problem is quite generalized. This is a big killer for self-study.