Higher resolution and less chance of "jitter" from shaking the camera when taking a picture. That results in sharper images. I have used a cell phone camera many times to snap pictures of documents and old pictures and have generally been happy with the results. However, using a scanner usually results in a higher-quality image than those taken with a cell phone camera. It may be "good enough" but typically is not perfect. I did buy an 18-megapixel Canon Rebel T4i camera a few months ago and it produces images that are just as good as, possibly better than, a handheld scanner. However, a typical cell phone camera will not. Then again, I usually have the cell phone camera with me everywhere I go but that is not true of the rather bulky Canon camera. As a result, I normally use whatever device I have with me. If I know in advance that I will have an opportunity to digitize something I want, I typically take either the MagicWand scanner or a Flip-Pal scanner with me. When I see a recipe in a magazine or newspaper that I want to save and put into Evernote, I typically use the cell phone's camera. It is always handy and I only care that it be readable. It does not need to be perfect.

---> Could you identify further the Gente di Mare site that you mention in the article? Probably not. I didn't write that article. As mentioned in the first sentence: "The following announcement was written by the organizers of the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Grant Award." I am not familiar with the Gente di Mare site but am hoping someone else can jump in here and answer your question.

I don't have any numbers to quote but, looking at it strictly with my eyes, I would say this scanner does a good job with color photos but not as good as some others. For older photos, most of which are back and white anyway or old color photos that may have faded a bit, this scanner meets my needs. However, if I wanted to have top quality color reproduction of newer photos, such as pictures of my daughter's wedding or pictures of grandchildren, I would probably want something better than a $24 scanner. The scanner scans 8.5 inches wide so smaller photos will need to be cropped. Most any photo editing program can do that. I typically use Preview on the Macintosh to crop images because it is quick and easy and also because Preview is already installed on all Macs.

For data files, such as Microsoft Word .DOC files or Excel .XLS file or text .TXT file, there shouldn't be a problem. I frequently copy files between Windows and Macintosh and even occasionally iPhone operating systems without problems. Copying or backing up data files between two different versions of Windows should never be a problem.

---> Dick, does the microSD card it comes with include an SD adapter card as well? Yes, it includes the SecureDigital adapter. ---> If I'm reading you correctly, it doesn't come with CD-ROMs pictured on NewEgg, right? There is a single CD-ROM disk in the box called "Home Artist Suite" that is clearly labeled as being for Windows only. I haven't opened it as I normally use a Mac. However, I found a lot of references to "Home Artist Suite" when searching on Google at http://goo.gl/d7Cnf

UPDATE: Ian Wilson agrees that this is a very bad idea. Wilson is Canada’s former chief librarian and archivist. He says it smacks of “desperation” by the federal government. Details may be found in the Ottawa Citizen at http://goo.gl/nIS4U