Help Me Pick a Camera!

Shamelessly using the powers of lj to get people to help me make a decision.

I'm looking to buy a new camera. My old one is a several years old Kodak Easyshare with no optical zoom, so pretty much anything new will be an improvement. I considered DSLR, but they're more expensive and may be too much camera for me to handle at this point. But feel free to suggest some cheaper/user-friendly ones.

* My price range is $100-200, but I might edge it up a bit if I have to to get what I want.

* I'd like a very short lag time, without or with the flash. I also want it to have a 'burst' function, but I think most new ones do this anyway.

* I want decent battery life -- be nice if it took my rechargeable AA's that I already have a bunch of.

* The pictures have to look good!

I'm thinking of using it to take pictures of animals outside or interesting scenery, and of people and items of interest inside.

Video function is essentially irrelevant. Optical viewfinder not necessary.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/comments/opinions/rants.