What Jim says about JPGs is true, but if you only edit an image once, or never, it doesn't lose more, just sitting on the computer or a disk. The factor is not how many times you open the image, but how many times you SAVE it. I'm not sure if that was clear.

His camera with 6X optical zoom and 3 mega pixels, is pretty much all you will need. Don't buy a 3X optical zoom, you will be disappointed when you need a longer telephoto. 6x-10x zoom

Most have a MACRO setting for close-ups. Good to have say for instance taking a picture of a chip or token?

Here are some things to consider. Buy a camera that uses standard AA batteries. Some only use special proprietary batteries. You can find a AA anywhere. Sam's Club has an 8 pack of AA nMh rechargable batteries, with a charger for $19. That's about the cost of 48 Alkalines. In theory the rechargables = 800 batteries.

Although it might be hard to find one without, make sure the camera has a built in flash. You will take pictures indoors. Right?

The "uploaders" that Jim mentioned are Card Readers. They aren't expensive and connect to the USB port on your computer. There are many that aren't expensive that will read 7 different types of cards. Plan for the future.

Memory costs have come down. Many cameras use SD cards which are pretty universal, however the size of your pictures, will determine the number that you can fit onto one card. Last I looked a 512 kb memory card was about $49 and a 1 GB card was $80+

SD "Secure Digital" used in many devices, one of the most common. HP, Kodak, others.

Slightly larger cards, but used in many applications, CF "Compact Flash" about the same price as SD, Canon, Nikon, others

Sony memory sticks... Sony format.

xD used in Olympus and Fuji. Some xD cards will only work in that brand of camera.

MMC (slower version of SD), Mini SD, T-Flash, RS MMC, Smartmedia Flash... and more. I probably didn't get them all. It's a zoo!

Every camera I've seen lately has software that will download the images off the camera, put them in albums, allow you to edit them, and other features like email, print, a bunch more. This doesn't really put a whole lot of wear and tear on the camera. It also removes the pictures, OFF the camera memory at the same time.

Since you are going to transfer pictures from the camera, and it comes with the free software, a card reader isn't necessary, unless you have some reason to leave pictures on the memory card, which you will have to remove in the future anyway, or if you want to write pictures to a memory card, to take to the store for printing, for example.

Jim also hit the target on megapixels. There are many 3.2 mp cameras on the market and you can make a good 8 x 10 from those. You don't need anything larger for travel, family photos, or very good 4 x 6 or 5 x 7 pictures.

1) 3mp or more resolution camera
2) 6x optical zoom minimum
3) Built in flash
4) standard memory format (SD and CF are my picks)
5) standard batteries

Options you will enjoy; Macro, Self Timer, selectable modes, like Sports (shutter priority), portrait, landscape, video, sound, Etc.

Last of all. Since the pictures are "free", limited only by your batteries and the memory card, take many, many pictures, and throw away the ones you don't need. It's easier to take 100 pictures and only save the ones you want, than go back and take a shot over.