Both of those products are decent so you should be able to reduce the problem if nothing else. I wouldn't bother with a photo printing shop at this point, though it is very likely that they WILL get the results you are looking for. Try to make your current system work first.
Make sure you are setting the printer to the highest quality setting when you print. This will probably be in the 'settings' menu when you first press the print button. Don't print a full page though, print only a 4x6 print like you'd get with traditional 35mm cameras. You might inadvertantly be blowing up the picture when you print, though it looks good in a smaller size on the screen. Also, make sure you are taking pictures at a high resolution. You've got a camera with fewer megapixels, so if you take lower quality pictures to fit more on your card, you will see distortion. Try printing at least one picture taken at the highest setting.
If none of that works, perhaps you could try another printer? Try your friends' printers, and see if it turns out better. If THAT doesn't work, or if it's too much hassle, send me an email with one of the pictures (email should be in my profile). If I were to guess, it's mostly your printer that's causing the problem, though if you're snapping photos on a low quality setting, your printer won't help you any!
It's not too expensive to print at a photo place. If you find yourself getting frusterated, or you've exhausted all your ideas, don't hesitate to try a professional job! Photography is supposed to be fun first and foremost, and if you find yourself getting bogged down in technical details, you can always skip them. As for myself, I'm a technical junkie -- I ENJOY (probably masochistically) trying to solve impossible problems. Not everybody is cut out for that sort of thing!
