WHICH IS BETTER NIKON D50 OR KODAK P880 AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE

As of 11/6/2006 - Nikon's D50 sells with basic lens kit for around $700. It's a true DSLR which means you can mount any of the Nikor (or aftermarket) lens kits of your choice AND you can expect faster between-shot processing which translates as the ability to take better action shots (think of this as analogous to the old motor driven picture taking ability of 35mm SLRs).

That said, at around $380 the Kodak P880 will provide ALL the desired creative features of the best DSLR's (manual focus, manual zoom, RAW picture mode, manual white balancing) in a fixed mount lense which adjusts from ultra-wide 24mm equivalent to a very reasonable 140mm telephoto mode. It is a quality lens system. The electronic image stabilization is a plus.

So, to answer your question: If you have to ask which is better you're probably not a PRO (or Pro-sumer) type customer. Creative amateurs will get more bang for the buck from the Kodak. It makes more sense unless you are looking to reuse your old Nikkor lenses or plan to do significant motor-driven mode style shooting to capture events as they unfold.