:eek: Well, bother. If I’d known about that, I would have bought a Canon.
Silver Tyger Girl, any chance of piccies when you get your new camera? 
What? Of me? I can provide those right now.
I swear my sister’s camera has a remote available. But I think she bought a really expensive one.
My Nikon D-70 has a remote control as I suspect most SLR’s do but you specified a lower price range.
No camera takes that long, something is wrong with your current camera. No camera you buy, if in good working order, will take that long. You may have dying batteries or a bad memory card in need of formating.
There is open-source software available for Canon digital cameras that adds some incredible functionality. This Wired article explains about the Canon Hackers Development Kit.
This alone narrows the list of digital cameras to the various Canon models.
A short list of features unlocked:
CHDK is great, but honestly most people won’t want to use the features that are available. For advanced photographers, it’s a godsend.
I’m pretty sure the camera is dying, seeing as it’s 10 years old. There’s been other problems with it, off and on.