As far as the "memory card error" message is concerned, it may well be fixable by replacing the internal battery, it's a common problem with that model.

As far as a new camera goes, I can recommend the Casio EX-1050Z. it's small, light, fast, and cheap. The picture quality is really pretty damn good. Other than that, most of the current crop of 8MP+ canon compacts are also very good.

pca
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Experience is what you get just after it would have helped...