Excellent. Now instead of taking 34 crappy pictures on a roll of 36 exposure film I can take 489 crappy ones on a memory card that holds 500!

Digital cameras have phased Polaroids out completely. You can take many more pictures with them, with better quality. This is something that everyone should have.

Digital cameras have changed picture taking as we know it. Now you can take as many pictures as you would like without wasting film and simply the delete the bad ones. You also get to keep the pictures in digital format making it easy to share with others and edit on your own. The downside is that it runs on battery which can die on you, leaving you without a usable camera until you can recharge it.

Not needed, non-essential

Love not having film!! Its great!

Definitely 5.

Brilliant!

The ones with video rule. The videos on my page were shot with a $200 digital camera. Cool, huh?

UPDATE: They also make it possible to shoot pictures of an... adult nature without having to pass them through the hands of film developing types...

The digital camera is definitely a great invention of the last 50 years. It has completely changed photography, and has really made taking pictures much easier. Plus, no more hassle in having to buy film or wondering how many pictures you have left on the roll, etc. Digital cameras have also allowed us to easily share photos and videos on the Internet. People no longer have to print copies of their pictures for friends and family - you can simply send the photos to them through e-mail and they can do with them what they wish. Digitial cameras also play to our love of instant gratification. Now, we can see a photo a few seconds after we take them. Like it? Great. Hate it? Take it again!

My one complaint about digital cameras is that I think people don't print pictures as much. I really love having actual physical pictures to look through, rather than simply looking through a digital album online. I think it's important for future generations to have something to physically hold in their hands and look at to remember us.

Digital cameras are nice in that you can download the pictures without having to take them in to get developed, but other than that I don't see them as being that much of an advantage over a traditional camera.

Digital cameras have revolutionized photography and really allow more people to become much better at producing nice shots without formal education or reference books. Instant gratification = awesome :D

Although film chemistry can capture an image with more range of light, I'm happy shooting digital. No consumables except electricity changes everything in making photos.

Cool. No film to buy and develop.

Good, but I hope it doesn't destroy the art of film photography.  There's something satisfying about watching the image emerge in the darkroom, but I will give the digital camera and computer editing a lot of credit for making it more accessible to people.