The other day, I walked into a store to buy a TV - and soon walked out. The choices that lined the walls seemed endless. I just wanted a TV I could watch. Wasn't that enough to know?

If your business needs a copy machine, you may end up similarly perplexed. You just want something that can copy, right? But in fact, a copier is among the most crucial purchases you make. If you don't believe me now, wait till the day the copier's not working - you'll sure hear about it!

Color or black and white?

If you specifically want color output, and you need too many copies to use a color printer alone but not enough copies to justify sending your color work offsite to a copy center, your job could be accomplished by a low-end, desktop color copier - for as little as $400.

Digital or analog?

Digital copymachines can function as a network printer as well as a copier. They can also scan and sometimes fax. Hence they are often called "imaging systems," but don't let the name fool you. They still copy.

They start at under $1000, but if you want advanced features like a wide zoom range or any memory-based functions, you'll be looking at a higher beginning price point: probably around $1500.

Digital copiers used to cost more than their analog counterparts, but this is less true these days. Some manufacturers have even stopped producing analog copiers completely.

What's your copy volume?

If you have a current copier, you're in luck: you can estimate your volume by consulting the counter. However, if this will be your first machine, use your copy shop receipts.

Then increase that number by about 40%: that's the copy volume you should be shooting for.

As a benchmark, manufacturers' quoted prices translate to about $300 for a digital, black and white machine that produces 750 copies a month to about $2300 for one that produces 3,000 copies a month.

What will you copy onto?

If it's much more than the standard letter-sized standard paper stock - like transparencies, legal-sized or cover stock - or involves multiple types of paper (e.g. letterhead), you'll need to get multiple paper trays to allow for this flexibility.

Also, if you anticipate long copy runs, look for paper trays with 1000+ sheet paper capacities.

Two-sided or one-sided?

If you like to save paper, printing on both sides of a sheet requires an automatic duplexer. This will probably cost you between $1000-$2000. If duplexing will be sporadic, you can always run your double-sided copies through the bypass tray.

Single sheets or stacks?

If you anticipate copying large stacks of documents, consider getting an automatic document feeder (ADF), which will cost you about $800. That way, you won't have to open and close the copier cover for each sheet - each sheet from the stack will be automatically be fed into the machine through the feeder instead.

After making a decision, of course, you'll have to tangle with a coppier dealer for buying or leasing terms and a service contract. But that's another column entirely.