once agin: medium vs. digital

Hey folks -

I'm looking at the medium format cameras at my local camera shop. The sales
guy went over medium format with me, and also showed me a 24"x whatever
print from an 8 MP digital camera. So now I don't know what to buy.

Here's the cons vs. pros:

digital cons:

- 1 year warranty: I work with computers, and I really don't trust a
digital device that's not warrantied for more than one year. It feels like a
very expensive disposable camera. I know that when ( and when I say 'when',
I do mean 'when' and also 'soon') it breaks after 1 year, it will be more
expensive to repair than to replace.

- low quality images?: I've tried to find authoritative informatino on
grain vs. pixels, but stuff is all over the map. These large digital prints
I saw at the photo shop were very impressive, though.

digital pros:

- No cost for picture taking: I can blow 1000 photos a day and not pay for
any developing or printing.

- Easy to share and upload images.

- 1 year same as cash financing: there is a Christmas special at my local
camera place.

Medium format pros:

- Higher quality lenses: lenses would be better *I guess* for a MF system.

- Value Retention. The MF cameras would hold value for a long time, while a
digital camera would wuickly degrade in value. I'm certain after 10 years a
digital won't work and will be too expensive to fix.

- Alternate films: I can load Infrared film, very fast film ( like star
film), and high saturation film.

- Digital backs: do they make digital backs?

MF cons:

- Film , printing and developing.

- Upfront costs: no financing for used equipment.

I feel like if I buy a digital camera, I will be on a plan for revolving
purchases every 2-3 years. I feel like the repairable MF will last a long
time... I guess if they made digital backs, I would go medium format.