THere are TONS of good cameras out there right now at decent prices.

For picture quality, you can't beat any of the Canons, but they're on the pricey side typically and I still find even the newer ones to be a little slow.

The Kodak easyshare series however is probably one of the most popular digital cameras out there, have great picture quality and are among the most affordable. Check this out:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?inv...amp;cpc=CAMbsc

I personally have a Sony Cybershot DSC-N1 that my wife bought me. It's very pricey but takes awesome pictures, is FAST and has a lot of actually useful features. My one big gripe is that you can't adjust the self timer, it's only 10 seconds and that's not a lot of time if you're trying to take pictures with yourself in the picture!