Electronics are popular gifts again this year -- for geek and nongeek alike. From cell phones to digital cameras to portable music players and computers, high-tech gadgets are flying out of the stores -- and, of course, from the warehouses of online retailers, too.

Even when electronic gifts weren't always high-tech, they still needed batteries. Didn't you hate it when you received an electronic gift but the giver forgot the batteries?

While today's gifts may not always need AAA batteries, there's usually an accessory that makes it more enjoyable to use the gift.

As long as we're already talking about them, let's start with batteries. Your friend needs them in the cell phone, camera, PDA and laptop computer. But in most recently sold electronic devices, they're specialized rechargeable batteries. So buy an extra one that can be switched out when the primary battery loses its charge. And buy an external charger, too, so that the spare battery can be charged while he device is in use.

I just bought new cell phones for three members of my family -- and I decided to buy us all the same phone. That way we can share batteries and AC adapters. Not only do we need fewer batteries (because the chances of all of us needing a charge concurrently is fairly low), but we also can distribute the chargers so they're handy. One at home; one at my office; one at my son's -- hey where is that third charger anyway?

Digital cameras need lots of add-ons. The most important is an extra memory card. It's really a drag to go on vacation and have to drag a laptop just to hold the photos you took that can't fit on your camera's memory card -- especially if all you really need is a tiny compact flash card to double or even quadruple the number of pictures you can take while you're on the road.

Tripods come in handy too. Sometimes you want to take a picture of your entire family, but you have nobody to take the picture. Your tripod will make it easy, by holding your camera steady, allowing you to set the timer and get in the picture before the shot.

Tripods can be expensive floor models, or cheap desktop models. So feel free to buy them as stand-alone gifts -- or add a tripod and a memory card to that camera you already plan to give, making your gift a complete photo outfit.

I saw something in the Radio Shack catalog -- a perfect, inexpensive gift that is sure to be appreciated. It's called Extend-a-Jack, and it's an extension cord for audio video inputs, like those on the back of your TV. This one is just long enough to reach around to the front, so you don't have to squeeze around the back of your set every time you need to unplug your game console to plug in your camcorder.

The list of things that make a good present better gets even longer when you consider other electronics. How about ink cartridges for that printer -- or a pack of photo-quality paper? You can print onto plain paper but the photos you took with your new digital camera don't look as good as on nice, thick, glossy stock.

If you're giving an MP3 player, include a couple months of Napster, Yahoo! Music or some other downloadable music service.

Most of these gifts won't break your budget -- and they'll make the difference between a nice gift and an awesome experience.