Nikon S600... Panasonic FS3? or another?

Okay I'm looking for a compact camera around the $300 mark (that's in Aussie dollars, so I don't know what that is American... sorry)
At one store a man recommended either the Nikon S600 or the Panasonic FS3 were fairly good for that price range.

I'd kind of like the following qualities:
+ 10 megapixels
+ preferably 4x optical zoom or more
+ rechargable lithium battery
+ fairly quick loading time between shots

I'd like to get a good camera that will be a fairly good quality camera for a while (considering how cameras are always being upgrading every 3 to 6 months). I'm looking at 10 megapixels too, because I often end up cropping photos. (I am aware that the Pansonic is 8mp)

So... any recommendations?
Thanks

That would be $196.37 USD. There are a few in that price range, particularly the Canon SX110IS. But don't fall into the trap that "more MP is better." It's a myth. Let me explain. I came across an interesting article today about how more mega pixels is not necessarily a good thing. According to Image Engineering – a company that does testing of digital cameras for photo magazines in Germany – the quality of digital pictures has steadily decreased since the state of the art was six megapixels back in 2004. And because they don’t have a “dog in this hunt,” they put forth a compelling argument for buying new digital cameras with less mega pixels and not more.

The argument is essentially this: CCD chips on point and shoot cameras a smaller and as such, fitting in more pixels without a corresponding increase of chip size, causes them to lose light sensivity. Sure, there’s more data on the chip, but the chip can’t absorb the light data and what it ends up with is a picture that has more noise than image quality. In addition, the more megapixels a camera has, the larger the lens it needs to provide the clarity it deserves and prevent diffraction due to a loss of detail with smaller apertures. But since we’re talking portable point and shoots here, those large lenses simply aren’t being made.

Finally, with larger mega pixels comes longer saving time due to their requires huge storage capacity, or more compression if not storing images in RAW format. The result is a noisier image and a dissatisfied camera user who thirsts for high quality and speed but fell into the trap of "more must mean better."

Okay, so what kind of camera do you recommend I buy? I have found that 10mp are generally out off my price range anyway. I currently own a 3mp and I definitely would like a camera with more mp than that, as I often end up cropping ny pictures and 3mp simply isn't enough.

Perhaps an 8mp camera with good zoom plus all the other features I listed above? What's a good one I can be buying?