What size memory card should you buy? You should buy one the same size as the memory card slot in your camera. Just kidding!

Lately, memory cards have gotten bigger and bigger. They've also gotten cheaper. The other day I saw a four-gigabyte memory card for $90. Not too long ago that would have been unheard of.

I usually recommend that people buy large memory cards – in the one gigabyte range. That way you don't have to worry about running out of memory. You can keep taking pictures without missing a beat.

Most cameras are sold with very small memory cards to start with. A 16-megabyte xD picture card, for instance, will not fit many pictures. If you take pictures at the highest quality, you'll get maybe 13 pictures.

Depending on the type of media your camera uses, a 1GB card can usually be found online for between $20 and $40. That is probably enough for 800 or so pictures at high quality. I wouldn't go any lower than a 256-megabyte card.