I need help understanding about digital cameras?

I am planning on purchasing a digital camera, but no very little about them. Can you take the memory cards to Wal-mart and have prints made or do you have to use your computer?I'm looking for something where I can just get prints made at a store rather than dealing with putting them on my computer. Also what megapixel is best? I will be taking pictures of my new baby and want the quality to be very good - almost professional if possible. Any reccommendations on good brands that are reasonably priced?

Most places that develop pictures can handle any type of digital media. I shy away from leaving my memory cards with anyone to be developed, because I'm afraid that they may lose it, and they're worth serious dollars. Rather, I transfer the pictures I want to print to a CD. If they lose my CD, I'm out about 30 cents.
As for which camera to buy, the more you spend the better the camera, for the most part. You don't say what you consider to be reasonably priced, but expect to spend at least $300 for a camera that takes pictures that you will consider to be good, but more money will buy you a better camera.
Canon, Nikon, Sony, Kodak all make cameras that are pretty good in that price range.
Shop for at least 5 megapixels, but don't let megapixels be the only factor in deciding which one to buy. Look for features like multiple shooting modes (portrait, landscape, macro, night time, sports,...), a decent size lens.
Try the online stores to compare specs and narrow down your choice, then go out to a real store to test drive your selections.

yes you can get prints from the memory card and i wouldn't go below about 6 mega pixel if you can afford it

Yes you can take your memory cards to walmart, cvs, wegmans, any place like that. Megapixels only determine how big you can blow up a picture and not really the quality. Like a 6 megapixel will do an 16x20, 7 megapixel will do a 20x30. I would say if you don't plan on going any larger than 8x10, anything 4 and above will do. With a digital camera you basically get what you pay for. Like Canon, Panasonic and Casio are going to be your higher end cameras. Kodaks are going to be your easiest to use. Olympus, and H/P are going to be your lower end cameras, and Fuji and Sony are definitely better than they were a year ago so they are going to be your mid range ones. Nikons are mid range too but they used to be high end, they are slipping. Hope this helps.

The best place to go for answers is www.dpreview. As far as taking the card to Walmart or another developer, that can be done with any camera. The other thing to know is now most "Photo" printers you buy now have the more popular card readers in them already. (SD, compact flash ect..) As far as the camera goes, don't listen to the MP race. For the most part it means very little. I have a DSLR that is a 6mp, but with PhotoShop I can tum the pic into a 100mp if I wanted too, and not get that much more quality. The thing to look for is the quality and size of the CCD or sensor. Nikon make a pro DSLR 4mp that sells for over 3k and will perform better than most new 8-10mp pocket cameras. Do your homework. The smallest pocket cameras are great and quick, but lake some of the qualities that even the advanced p&s cameras have to offer. (like the Kodak P712 or the Canon IS seriese)

Congratulations on your new baby!

Stay with the camera manufacturers when choosing your camera: Canon, Nikon, Olympus, and the higher end Fuji and Kodaks. Most cameras have at least 5 or 6 mega pixels now.

There are two big things you want to look for when deciding which model. One is the shutter lag. That is the time it takes from you pushing the button until the camera takes the picture. That measurement has improved in the last couple of years, but smaller is still better. DSLRs have almost no shutter lag, some cheap digicams have a lot.

The second thing is high ISO performance. You use high ISO in taking available light pictures with no flash. The higher end Fuji cameras excell in this area. A bad one will give you a picture filled with red and purple dotty things, called noise. It is much worse than film grain.

You can take your memory card to practically any photo finisher, Eckerd, Walgreen, WallyWorld etc etc. Most places you choose the prints you want and order the prints yourself. You can also ordr a CD of your images at the same time, or you can make your CD at home. Then you can delete the card and start over.

Go to www.dpreview.com or www.stevesdigicams.com to research cameras by features and reviews.

Good luck!

here's a link on ebay where you can read reviews of them by ebay members