Jehanne, how does Tails compare to Cryptohippie (Cryptogroup)? Thank you for your time and expertise.
They're a VPN, one of many. They'll protect your anonymity from casual "IP snooping" but not from malicious Java scripting and/or other programs which simply "leak" your IP address. They may keep logs, they may not, regardless of what they affirm or deny. The good thing about them is that they, like the others, are robust, which means that you can simply "point" almost any program (browser, email, P2P, torrent, etc.) at them and they will provide a proxy for your IP, assuming, of course, that your true IP does not "leak." On the other hand, the Tor Browser, Tails, JonDonym, etc., will force all of your browser traffic through a mix network of relays; for JonDonym, at most a dozen or so such relays (most of which are in Germany), and for Tor, at least several thousand such relays scattered all across the globe. On the other hand, it is difficult to "point" some applications at Tor and get things to work correctly; for instance, Tor does not and will not process UDP packets, only TCP/IP. Tails is meant to bundle all applications which are compatible with Tor, and as Tails (along with the Tor Browser) is completely open-source (unlike most VPNs, which are closed-source), it is less likely that Tails is going to be infected with some malware and/or backdoor, provided, of course, that you are verifying signature files, running regular virus scans, using good computer security practice, etc.
In short, a VPN will serve you well and you only really need Tails if a TLA ("three-letter agency") is investigating you for something or if you live in an oppressive country (which are full of TLAs) or if you just value your privacy while be online and do not want members of your own household looking at your browsing history, Internet caches, "sniffing" your router traffic, running keyloggers (a big one), etc., which is probably very rare anyway, but is certainly possible!