I wanted to buy a digital camera.

After reading countless magazines, searching through piles of catalogs, and drilling into dozens of web sites I was convinced the Kodak DC280 was right for me.

Now came the fun part -- a hands-on trial.

Or so I thought.

I drove down to my favorite neighborhood computer store -- CompUSA on Niagara Falls Boulevard. (Yes, I know. It’s the only computer retail store in town.)

The store was not particularly crowded on this Wednesday afternoon. Being an experienced weekly visitor to CompUSA, I made a beeline to the digital camera counter near the back of the store.

There weren’t any salespeople nearby, so I started looking at the models on display. I noticed that they didn’t have the particular model I was interested in. But they did have a very similar model on display: Kodak’s DC240.

The first thing I noticed when I picked up the camera was that it was difficult to handle. Not because of it’s shape or weight, but because it was tethered to the counter display with a security cable.

Security is important, I thought... you don’t want anyone walking off with one of these high-priced, pocket-sized cameras. I continued with my trial.

Since there’s no film to waste, I thought I’d shoot some pictures inside the store to test it out. I flipped on the power switch.

Nothing happened. Oh. No batteries. I tried all the other cameras on display. None of them had batteries.

By now I’d now spent about 10 minutes fooling around with the display cameras, when I accidentally set off the security alarm. (I guess I pulled a little too hard on the camera’s security cable.) No problem. At least the loud incessant beeping would roust a salesperson to help me out.

No one showed up. As the alarm kept beeping away, I stood there trying to look as guilty as possible so as to attract some attention -- anyone’s attention.

Nothing happed. No one came over.

My hands-on analysis was now complete. I put the camera back down on the counter and headed back to my office.

Jumping on the Internet, I went to a site called www.mysimon.com. A quick comparative search showed 16 different Internet sites that would gladly sell me the Kodak DC280 camera I wanted. Most interesting was the range of prices -- from a low of $654 to a high of $799.

CompUSA and PC/Mac Connection were on the high-end at $799.

I ordered the camera from onsale.com for $660. Shipping was $8. No sales tax. Total on-line shopping time was 10 minutes.

I was taking digital pictures two days later.

The camera works great and I couldn’t be happier with my decision on the camera -- and where to buy it.

Is computer retail dead? Maybe not yet. But it’s getting closer every day.

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