In the US, spindles of 100 Maxell printable CDs are around $37; individual CDs with slim jewel case are around 60 cents each (that's Mac/PCConnection - I'd expect similar prices from the other online computer supply places). Generic non-printable CDs at Staples (office supply place that's omnipresent in our part of the US) are $35 for a spindle of 100 (and, to be fair, the special of the week is $18 for 100 after a rebate ($27/100 before)).

By one perspective, the printable ones are at least twice as much - and harder to find and you'll probably have to pay shipping. And the ink costs a fair amount. I'm thinking we figured it was costing us around $3/CD (not counting the initial cost of the printer and upgrading my computer so it could handle music editing software and my collection of mics and stuff like that).

And it takes about 5 minutes each to burn, print, fold the little booklet (we do get the booklet and CD case inserts printed professionally a hundred at a time), take apart the case to put the insert in the back, stick in the CD, close the cover - and then it's time to take the next CD out of the burner and put it in the printer and set up the next case while it's printing and so on. There's a reason we only do 10 or 20 at a time. And it's a good thing Charley's fingers are stronger than mine.

But the label won't ever get stuck in your car CD player on a hot day, as can happen with the adhesive types.

And you can buy most of the supplies as you need them - while you'd be paying upfront to have a professional place print them by the hundreds or thousands. (Not to mention needing a place to store them.) And if you discover a typo once all 2500 are printed - I think you're out of luck.

There are places (including folks here who have posted on similar threads) who are willing to do small runs - sort of a middle ground between what we do for Charley's CDs and what his group does - which is the professional sound engineer/1000-CD run approach.

Lots of factors to consider - and a lot more choices than there were even a few years ago. We paid a fair amount for our little home studio - and I hate to think what it would have cost 10 years ago!

JudyB