I need a new camcorder

Well the one we have decided to croak. The little tape holder thingy decided to stop working. Me being the technician type decided to try and fix it (out of warranty so what the *fudge*). There are like a million of those little screws in the thing and I still couldn't get to the part I needed to. Decided to put it back together and looked at all those little screws siting on the table. They were all different sizes, some had different threads, and they were either black or silver in color. I looked at my wife, she looked at me, rolled her eyes and gave me a coupon for Circuit City.

I managed to put it back together (only 2 screws left over) and it will still take pictures. Problem is the tape compartment is permanently open and will not close. So today we will be going to said Circuit City and promptly buy a low to mid range priced MiniDV camcorder

Yea because I have about 10 of those little tapes that I have been putting off backing up to a DVD.

Maybe I should see if my parent's camcorder is a MiniDV.

My wife also rolls her eyes when I start going all "screws on the table".

Never give up I say. 

Don't know if this is a concern.  With the hard drive cams, once it is full, that is it.  Unless one is organized enough to download the stuff from the hard drive to the puter on a regular basis.