Guide to backpack buying

In about a week, school will start again, and for many people that’s the time to buy a new bag for their kids. As many doctors will tell you, a backpack is the best way to carry your books to school. It distributes the load evenly on both shoulders and is the most comfortable way to carry something.
Split Milk has an interesting article on buying a new backpack. Of course, for going to school you need a different kind of backpack than for camping. Here are some of the points you should pay attention to (summarized from source article):

• Comfort; A good backpack should have wide shoulder straps, a padded back and not be too big or heavy for a kid.
• Durability; Backpacks that are used for school have to endure quite a bit. They are dropped, thrown and who knows what else. Pay attention to the fabric, stitches and zippers. Also, brand names are often more durable. I myself still use my Camel bag I had since high school.
• Load capacity; Large enough, of course, but not too large. It should be big enough to hold books, a pencil box, a lunch box, or anything else for a day of school.
• School rules; Sometimes, schools require or ban certain types of bags. For example, when I was in high school, we were required to put some sort of reflective material on our backpacks, so we were clearly visible in traffic.
• Price; Not to be ignored! Although brand-name bags are usually more expensive, they will last a lot longer, and may turn out cheaper.

The Split Milk article also has a list of different cool backpacks. One that I would definitely want is the Skullcandy Link Street Pack, a backpack with active speakers built into the straps, connections for a phone headset and power and volume controls.