Digital camcorders are among the most popular home electronic items that anyone can have. Before, you had to be somewhat technologically inclined and skilled to be able to operate and old style video camera. You would have to navigate through cables and cords. Then, the hard part would come: trying to hook up the video camera to the VCR (or Beta Machine!) and then to the television so that you could watch the home movie on the TV.

And over time, the quality of that memorable home movie would fade and diminish as the videocassette that it was recorded on would weaken. Fortunately, digital camcorders don't have that problem because, well, they don't have any tapes or cassettes to record on! Rather, a digital camcorder has a hard drive - kind of like on your computer - built right into it. Imagine that you have a word document saved on your home personal computer. If you don't open that document for 10 years and then decide to open it, it will still look as clear and as bright as the day you made and saved it. That's kind of the same deal with digital camcorders!

Digital camcorders have become so advanced that you don't even need a digital camcorder anymore! Nowadays, digital camcorders are built into cell phones, portable MP3 players, Blackberries and other devices. Whereas before, the digital camcorder was a unit and machine unto itself (and it still is), now it's simply one of many functions of other technological devices. It's really remarkable when you think about it: the big and bulky old-school video camera now fits inside a cellular phone! That's pretty cool.

Digital camcorders and digital video cameras are great for recording important events and memories or to just capture that instant moment. They are incredibly easy to use - usually it just takes the push of a button - and most digital camcorders are now equipped with USB cables and other peripheral items that allow you to upload that movie from your digital camera onto your computer in just minutes. And, in just a few minutes after that, you can have that movie onto the internet for the whole wide world to see!