We have a lot of old picture albums. Ideally I'd like to have the pics scanned so we have a permanent electronic copy as well as this would allow me to host them on a website.

What is the best route to take to get all of the pictures scanned in? I have a scanner at home but it would take me weeks to months to do them all myself. I assume some photo places will do this for you. How much does it normally cost? Is there a certain minimum resolution the files should scanned in? Do most end up as .jpg files?

Basically looking for opinions/stories on others that have gone thru this process before.

I think you find some services around $0.25 for a 4"x6", but I have none to recc. 300DPI would be minimal. Also consider editing time, as you may wish to edit flaws, cracks, etc..
Here's a post on the subject from the TG...Scanning

there are services that do it (pictopia.com is one I know of), but I'm sure that gets pricey pretty quick if you have a lot of photos. a quarter a pic like robn said is probably about what you can expect to pay.