I have come in possession of massive amounts of photos that I would
like to save digitally.  It would be cost-prohibitive to have this
outsoourceed (the numbers seem to large unless there is a bulk-price
outfit somewhere)
I am looking for the best scanner where I can drop X number of photos
into a feeder and feed these photos to scan and save. I am not looking
for a flatbed that scans multiple photos at once since that would take
me twenty years of lifting and opening the scanner.
I have a Mac so it must be compatible.  Any solution would be
acceptable (i.e. service, scanner, another one i don't know about)

Here is a list of scanners from HP.  They all say "flatbed" scanner,
but have a feed tray as well.  You can stack multiple items and let it
scan.  You would not have to place them individually on the glass.
These range in price from $300 to $1200.  They are all mac compatable.

http://sy.adiho.com/ASA/Controller;jsessionid=33BDCDD72D614BEC65C09571CA48804E?tagid=33BDCDD72D614BEC65C09571CA48804E$0$49$10117$en_US&state=1S0&_AD_195R22=110&r=1745416580

You asked for the "best" scanner.  This one would do very nicely!
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/dpq/site/TKX/name/i610Scanner_product
It will set you back about $40,000 !!!  They are designed to do this sort of thing.

Assuming you are running on a budget of around $500 I would recommend this model:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/15179-64195-215155-15202-215155-434502.html

It runs about $500
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attrib.php?page_id=23&form_keyword=Scanjet+7650&rd=1


There are places that will give you bulk rates for scanning your
pictures.  Here is a large list of sites that offer such services:
://www.google.com/Top/Shopping/Photography/Services/Digital/Photo_Scanning/

Here are some examples:
http://www.dvdsmiles.com/Default.aspx?Content=Pricing
1000+ pictures = $0.35 per picture

http://www.digmypics.com/OE/Pricing.aspx
500+ pictures = $0.34 per picture

http://www.britepix.com/pricing.htm
500+ pictures = as low as $0.25 per picture (a lower DPI than the others)
500+ pictures = $0.35 per picture for 300dpi (comparable to the other above)

I hope that this has helped you decide what you want to do.  If you
would like further advice on this matter please provide details as to
how many pictures you have to scan and what kind of a budget you are
on.  I will be happy to provide additional information.  Post a
request for clarification if more information is needed.

Thanks!

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Request for Answer Clarification by bailey111-ga on 19 Aug 2006 16:00 PDT

Thanks.  Good answer. 
Quick follow - the link for the HP printer has two choices, should i
choose the second one with the mac usb

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Request for Answer Clarification by bailey111-ga on 19 Aug 2006 16:08 PDT

Actually - the product advisor link does not work. So - i could not
see alot of this answer

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Clarification of Answer by gregaw-ga on 20 Aug 2006 05:47 PDT

Sorry about that link not working.  I didn't realize that search would
timeout so quickly.  Basically it had several of these products
listed:
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/15179-64195-215155.html?jumpid=re_R295_prodexp/busproducts/printing-scanner/scanners
I had it narrowed down to just the scanners with the feed trays on
top.  Just ignore the others.

As to which one to pick on the Pricegrabber screen, I don't think it
matters.  The search engine thinks it found two different models, but
I clicked through to the buy.com link through each option listed in
that link and ended up at the same web page.  The HP part number is:
L1940A.  I saw that there was a suffix on them (201).  I'm not sure
what that is.  The HP scanner is compatible with MAC.  It does not
need to be a special model to work for you.

Please let me know if you would like any further clarification.

Thanks!

Great answer with time and help. Thanks!

Hmm, this is not the solution you are looking for but it might just work. 
If you get a GOOD digital camera for instance a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II 
check it out at http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelDetailAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=10598
(OK this is top of the line you could do with a lesser camera and go
slower) lay 100 pictures on the floor at a time and take a picture of
all of them. It is imperative that you get a good professional camera
to do a large amount of pictures because the quality of the pictures
is dictated not only by the size of the megapixels but mostly by the
aperture of the lens.

Unfortunately I suspect that the camera solution will not work, elids.

Just do some maths... the EOS 1Ds Mk II has about 5000 pixels across
the frame at maximum resolution. If you lay the pictures out on the
floor, say with 10 pictures across the frame, you will end up with (at
best) 5000px/10 = 500px across each picture. At that resolution
(regardless of lens quality and aperture) you would not be able to
print the pictures out at more than 6x4in or 5x7in. It would also show
very little detail on screen.

You would also have problems with curved pictures, reflections, and a
huge job cutting out all the individual pictures on the computer.

:) I just read your post again, elids... did you mean take one photo
of each picture? That way you would have 5000px for each picture. If
so, just ignore the first half of my comment. Picture curvature and
reflections would still be a big issue, though.