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This site explains train travel in much more detail that there is room for in an answer here. http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurai%E2%80%A6 . It will tell you how to determine whether a pass is worth the money for your trip.Sometimes a Eurail pass is cheaper than individual tickets and sometimes not. You need to know that with a pass, you still need to make reservations and pay an additional fee on most high speed, international and night trains. Here in Italy, the reservation for a high speed train would cost 10 euro. The site also has links to the various national train sites where you can price individual tickets - it can be cheaper to buy individual tickets, especially in places like Spain and Italy. Read the section called "Common railpass mistakes: Italy..." on the seat61 site, for example. Tickets are also relatively inexpensive in Spain making a pass less valuable. You're more likely to save money with a pass if you want to travel spontaneously and can't buy individual tickets in advance to take advantage of discounts. Do read the sections on "Common railpass mistakes" in various countries and on Quotas.

This is a good site for budget flights to compare to rail for some of the longer distances. http://www.skyscanner.com/