What's the ave. battery life of a Kodak Easyshare c743?

Mine could only take about 8 pics and then it was dead. However, I used the included Kodak brand AA batteries. Is this a normal lifetime for digital camera batteries? Any hints/suggestions?

You could try the Energizer NI-MH Charger and batteries. The batteries are labeled 2200 mAH. These batteries should give you about 4 times the battery life of regular AA batteries.