i agree it depends on the age of your parents pc. most pc's these days have some sort of card reader built into them, providing you buy them within the past couple of years.
in my opinion, the easiest way for you to transfer such files after youve scanned all you need onto the pc, if you have a pc at home that is that you use personally, get a thumb drive. transfer by drag and drop method from the file folder on the pc to the thumb drive. you can easily use the same technique for a card reader that you can buy practically anywhere these days that sells electronics for next to nothing. thats depending on your preferences. you can buy a multimedia card as well. again, depending on your preference to use in a card reader. most card readers are in the plug and play format so theres no need for installation providing you are on a pc that is newer then the windows 98 OEM. if thats the case and you are using windows 98, then you will need and install disk and most devices these days come as plug and play and most generally do not have a disk with them for installing on an older pc. in that matter i can suggest going to the website
TigerDirect.com Best Deals - Computer Parts, PC Components, Computers & Electronics where i do tend to buy alot of my technological items since my husband and i have taken up the hobby of builiding pc's from scratch simply because. if you are on a windows 98 pc, i would go with the Iomega 15-in-1 card reader (which i do personally have) the box is red and white and shows the silver card reader on the front of the package. it averages $20 shipping and sales tax will depend on where you live or have it sent to (the company is based in illinois as i do and theres a sales tax for me so its a lil more expensive to have things sent to me in state) but they have some awesome delivery options. and most generally if your order is placed before 2pm your order will be processed and shipped if you dont live too far away, will receive your product within two days. if you live closer, you would more then likely get it the next day if you chose next day service and its ordered before 2pm CST.
i personally have many products that take a removable storage device and i would suggest sticking with one kind as opposed to many formats. most of our digital cameras as well as our mp3 cellular phones take the MMC/SD card (multimedia card/secured digital card) and we use the micro sd cards, a smaller card that fits inside a standard sized SD card that fits right into a card reader.
be warned its best to format your card before using it for anything to eliminate any file corruptions while transferring files from the pc to the card. most generally you can format them in a card reader that is connected to your pc via USB cable. it will show up on your pc as and extra drive depending on how many drives you currently have in the pc your on (disk reader cd-rom/dvd rom, cd/dvd +/- r/rw etc. you can also format it in another device you may be using the multimedia card in (camera, phone, etc.) and choose the format option through your settings that way.
sorry, i can go on and on about all the different options you have available to you with this matter and many many more.
hope this helps and i hope i didnt overwhelm you with all the info.
btw, i use that website ALOT i would reccommend it to anyone wanting to buy any technology items as they have a wide array of items