I'd certainly recommend a professional group such as Oasis if you really wanted to print 500 or more. They are good to work with.

However, if you're still in the pilot stage, doing something that involves testing yourself as a performer or a market for a special set of songs, then a home-based run of 100 or so still makes sense. The Epson Photo R800 with its "Gloss Optimizer" cartridge and "permanent" inks printing on Silver Matt printable label CD's, is the best system we've experienced. This system also makes sense for producing "proof" CD's for solcititating reviews for the commercially printed CD. You can send something out that looks professional, assuming you have those design skills or have friends you can badger into providing them.

However, even runs of 100 or less are labor intensive. You may decide that it's just not worth the extra expense of a high quality printer and the time and skill level it takes to package the results.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble