I have never liked pulling the card in and out compared to hooking my camera up USB, but now am doing such as I was having trouble DL'ing my camera software into my new XP computer. I have had that happen to me too to where I bought a new card etc. After use in my computer, when I turned my camera on after inserting the card, it would show No pictures or something to where I could not shoot until I fiddled around with it. So far, I am having luck as I slowly put it in and out, holding my breath hoping. I also found trouble occurred when thinking I had to use that Safely Remove Hardware from the taskbar which I don't do now. Sorry I can't help you but maybe the Photography forum may have run into that same incident if not solved here? Here is a link that might be useful: Photo forum

Yes Mary, you are reading right. There are several softwares that allow you to download free or purchased designs from the internet to your computer. Then you transfer from computer to the 'cardwriting box/card' for using in your machine. The most popular is the Brother PED Basic that I mentioned above. It only writes .pes format, which is what the 270 uses, and can be bought...sometimes used, from ebay. Normally, you can find new there, as well as Walmart on line, Allbrands.com, and other sites. You may pay from $50to $100+. Then you can download a free software to change other design formats to .pes for your machine to use. There are many many free designs available and a good place to start is to join Sewforum.com. It is a forum for embroiderers, where you can ask questions, request someone create a design for you free or for fee. It is not very active now as the site is also on Facebook, but still, there are thousands of free designs still there. I hope I have explained-helped you. Good luck!

I'm not sure which you'd like to buy but I found: SD Card, SDHC Card, MultiMediaCard, MultiMediaCard Plus listed as memory card options for this camera. What I'd do is call PC CONNECTION and let them help you decide. They are a great electronics/computer catalog company in NH (no sales tax and very good prices). They have been in business since the late 1980's I think. They have great tech people who can help you with your decision. I once wanted a kind of expensive cable for my computer to hook it up to a printer and their phone rep wouldn't sell it to me! He said I could get the job done with a product that cost 1/3 the price. It was new and not yet in their catalog. I took his advice and he was right. Saved me about $150. I trust them and they have never steered me wrong. You can get their 800 number from their website. You are going to LOVE your Cannon camera. Get the most memory you can! You will be making mini movies all the time! Good luck. LENVT Here is a link that might be useful: PCconnection

I have a 1 GB MicroSD card that I bought for my Nokia phone which I cannot use because, contrary to what the Best Boy salesguy said, MicroSD does not equal MMC (which is what I need for this phone). I'd be willing to let it go cheap. :-)