I started, seriously, with the 2800Z Sally, and it had a similar reception ... what you were seeing was actuall Fuji being rather heavy-handed with their in-camera sharpening algorithms. The 3000 will be nothing like as strong, but learning your way around USM in PS, Elements or PSP will in the end give you even better results, I'm certain.
I still use my 2800 for snapshots at parties and the like - it's just really easy to use, focuses well, has a decent zoom (the 6x was unheard of in it's price bracket at the time). I even took a blue ribbon photo with it (my disqualified one).
Sad to hear your news, though. Why not hunt e-bay or somewhere for a second-hand one?
Ed
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