Which brand is best?

[Beth]

Hi, I'm new here. Would like to get a P&S eventually but am not
sure which to choose;
want a fairly high resolution (at least 4MP) but also good choice of
modes (NOT just manual),
and definitely, decent pix and easy-to-get memory/batteries (like
AA/AAAs in latter case). But get the distinct impression that the
Minolta DiMages are *not* very good, so am thinking of a Nikon Coolpix
or a Sony. Am I looking in the right direction, and if so, which would
any
of you recommend? Thanks very much in advance!
Beth

[Daniel Silevitch]

Most of the big makers produce good cameras. Besides the two you
mentioned, Canon, Kodak, Olympus, Panasonic, Fujifilm, and probably some
others that I'm forgetting, are all fine.

As far as specific recommendations, a few questions to narrow down the
field:
How much money do you want to spend?
How big of a camera do you want? Something the size of a credit card, or
something bigger?
Do you want any manual controls, or is Auto plus a bunch of scene modes
OK?

[Someone]

I have a Kodak Z740 that seems to meet the criteria you mentioned. 5MP, 10X
Optical zoom, uses 2 AA batteries, uses SD card memory (32MB internal), has
an auto mode plus a number of scene modes, and some limited user settings in
the PASM mode. I paid $275 in November, and I believe they can be had for
quite a bit less now.