[kendra k]

i'm having a pretty stupid problem. my ipod is pretty much dead (you need to smack it to get it to work) and my digital camera is unreliable as hell. i'm about to go on a little holiday (with a couple of 5 hour flights), so i'd like to have both gadets in my arsenal.

the problem is i can't make a decision and time is runnign out. i need help!

for cameras, i've narrowed it down to a canon powershot, a casio elixim, or the lumix dmc. the first two are ultra small, the last one is fairly small but has 10x optical zoom! ugh. i can't decide. i currently have an older lumix, but the screen blacks out periodically and the zoom button sticks. boo!

as for mp3 players... i really don't want to give steve jobs money. the 8 gb sansa looks good, and i trust sandisk for storage, but it's only 8 gb. i don't know if i can handle that after the 60 gb ipod. eek! the 80 gb ipod sounds good, but i don't want steve jobs to get my money. see the problem?

so, what do you guys have? any suggestions?

[Boboff]

Get a phone, you can listen to the Radio, and take pictures, watch the inflight Movie, and sleep, Suduko books are good, why waste money now on bringing more hours of music than you are on Holiday for ?

Enjoy time in "conversation" with your man and people around you, trust me it may catch on ?

[kendra k]

i don't have a working digital camera though, so which one should i get?

and the music is more a crutch. i usually sleep and read on flights.

oh, and can anybody recommend a good book?

[Boboff]

Don't bother with a camera, get a phone one, Blue Tooth to your lap top it's easy.

Lee Child is Great for flights. Celia Ahern is good, and for real Irish class and Spirituality Nial Williams can not be beaten.

[kendra k]

i was thinking about getting a razor, but... i also need a new laptop.

[diouri]

the sony eriksson is good for music, and the camera isnt too bad, but canon cameras are always decent

[David]

phone cameras are fine for taking drunken pictures in a pub, or the occasional random picture of something, but even the best of phones are yet to beat a digital camera.

I have a 3 mega pixel phone which gives really good results, but it is no where as good quality as my digital camera (even when you set it in 3mp mode).

[Dickie]

Don't bother with a camera, get a phone one, Blue Tooth to your lap top it's easy.

Lee Child is Great for flights. Celia Ahern is good, and for real Irish class and Spirituality Nial Williams can not be beaten.

Even with the newest 3.2megapixel phone cameras i'd hardly say they're a patch on a proper one and having seen kendra's flickr account she'll want a good camera.

From my experience with cameras i'd go for the Canon as long as the storage media suits you.

MP3 player's a tricky one. You can expand the Sansa with MicroSD so that may be beneficial to you. How about the Creative line of players???

[kendra k]

yeah, as per my flickr account, i'd like a decent camera. not slr quality, but something that takes nice pictures to put on the web. the lumix has served me well so far, but i'm looking for something smaller. it's bad because i can get the cannon and an 80 gb ipod through amazon for about $50 off both together. grrr...

the sansa can be expanded with a micro sd card, music only, which seems pretty good. i'm still leaning in that direction because i really don't trust harddrive mp3 players.

[Walter Sobchak]

Is this Kendra's Christmas list?

[kendra k]

haha! i almost had you guys make my christmas list for me this year. i needed a list of 10 or so $20-30 items from amazon to ask for from my boyfriend's family, but couldn't really think of anything. i ended up asking for a random assortment of books about english football, history, and the arrested development dvd's. and a guinea pig puppet. i hate asking for stuff.

people with small digital cameras, is smaller better? or is there such thing as too small?

[David]

By small you mean physical size of camera?
Depends what you want. I have a nice little kodak camera which fits nicely in my pocket and is 5mega pixels. It takes decent photos, good for snaps of people, holiday snaps etc.

However, my dad has a huge Cannon SLR at 10 mega pixels. It takes far nicer photos and does tons, but its not very practical for taking everywhere you go.

[kendra k]

i'm thinking about something that is roughly the size of a large wallet. my current one can fit in a hoodie/jacket pocket, but not my pants pocket. i know i can't have something as good as a slr or slr wannabe and still be portable. i think something smaller and easier to have at hand will be used more than something that's a chore to cary. my current camera is ok, but it never leaves my bag because it's too big to keep in a pocket. i just don't know if i will lose my fancy pants artsy stuff.

[hannahisgreat]

get the one that is like rechargable. they suck up aaaaall the power cameras do.

[kendra k]

like really? OMG!

part of the reason i never got a really small camera was that i didn't trust proprietart batteries. i gave that up.

[hannahisgreat]

I have to buy batteries every 5 seconds. And more brilliant advice, never buy batteries from a pound shop. That just means you have to buy expensive batteries in 2 seconds which then means you have spent one pound extra. And a pound could be used for the lottery. And then you could win some money and but lots more rechargable cameras, or soemthing...

[Yudster]

I have a little skinny Sony thing, 5.2 megapixels, takes brilliant pictures and I'm completely happy with it - but it depends on what your aspirations as a photographer are. If you just want good quality holiday snaps, then theres a lot out there. I have a lot of Sony equipment - my husband is a Sony geek for some strange reason, and won't let anything else in the house - and I wouldn't recommend all of it by any means, but the camera is excellent.

[Dickie]

I've asked for the new sony DSC-T50 for Xmas, i'm still on my first digi from about 6 or 7 years ago. Time for a change me thinks.

[Adam]

Go non-digital. Go Retro. x

[kendra k]

allright, i'm going to make my decision and order the stupid thing today.

adam, i was actually thinking about getting a lomo camera to take cool pics with. just for kicks. maybe i will.