Why does my digital camera ravenously eat my batteries?

Would a memory card help?

I'm very behind in technology; I just recently got the internet for crying out loud!

a memory card will only hold pictures. usually the camera only come with 16 or 32 MB of memory. that will only hold about 8-16 photos depending how many mega pixels you have. a 4mp picture is 2MB, so 32MB will hold 16 photos. A memory card will hold more photos which is necessary, unless you want to take 16 pictures at a time.

dig cameras suck batteries faster than a____. when you buy batteries, you really pay for what you get. cheap batteries from the dollar store don't even turn on my camera. lithium batteries are really good, but there expensive(18$) and there disposable. your better off buying nickel metal hydrate rechargeable. there about $25 and can be charged over again. the only problem I have is they can die on there own. I left my camera alone for a month and the batteries wouldn't even turn on my camera.(they were fully charged) just make sure there charged before you go away

You're probably using the wrong kind of batteries, Find the ones that say LITHIUM it's a little expensive than most.

If you have purchased a camera in the last few months (3-4) you should be able to take about 200-300 pictures (maybe More depending on camera type) before changing the batteries. If it is an older camera, the technology was not quite there yet...and you might as well buy stock at Duracell, you will have to replace batteries constantly. Turning off your LCD Screen and using the view finder will help battery life as well. My recommendation is to buy Rechargeable batteries (at least 2400MaH). It will save you lots of money in the long run. If you don't want to hassle with Rechargeables, get Lithium Ion Batteries, they are a little more expensive, but they last longer. Hope this helps, -K-

check and see, if the batteries that it takes, comes in a heaver duty type. If you use, aa or aaa type, or what ever, search out the heviest duty types possable.

If the origional batteries came with the thing, they were no doubt the cheepest ones they could get ahold of.

I'm not very technologically inclined, So, my answer would be to take it back to where you purchased it & ask them, mabey they can help

You don't say what type of batteries you are using, but I would guess it's AA size.
If it is...then for cost effectiveness, you need to purchase AA sized, rechargeable batteries of 2500 NiMH or higher, plus a charger. It costs more initially, but saves you money in the long run.
Energizer make the e2 Lithium AA sized battery, which are very good to use only as a backup (they are quite expensive and not rechargeable).
You have to realise that many digital cameras are power hungry, and using the LCD screen, the zoom, the flash, shooting 'movies', etc...all demand a lot of power, and if you are using ordinary alkalines, then you will have an extremely short battery life.
P.S. it's always a good idea to charge your batteries on the day, or before, you are going to use your camera, because they are designed to self-discharge at the rate of 1/2-1% per day when not in use.