Tom

(can't work out how to quote on here)

No, they're not CDRs (according to the website). I'm going to use www.keyproduction.co.uk

You're right about those other costs: I haven't factored them in. But most of them don't apply in my case. I don't use a recording studio. I record at home and it's a very simple set-up. Voice and guitar, or voice and mandolin. The occasional overdub. there are no guest musicians bar my sister adding a harmony on a couple of tracks.

I work for a multinational corporation, who pay me very little and demand a lot, so I have no qualms about using their printer ink and other office resources. I'm well aware of the pratfalls of spilled beer on paper sleeves, but the costs I'm talking about, I can write-off quite a few. And, like quite a few other voices on this thread, I get really fed up with jewel cases. I'm happy to replace the odd soggy paper sleeve with jewel cases from my own CD collection frankly! I'm going to be packing CDs into sleeves during my work lunchbreaks, while watching TV, and on the bus on the way to gigs.

The only real significant extra cost I haven't included is mastering: £20 per track at www.littlebazaar.co.uk. I'm not going to attend a mastering session, but their promise is money-back if you're not satisfied. It shouldn't – fingers crossed – be a big deal, as all I want is a louder version of what I already have.

I also haven't included the cost of my equipment in this. I have two expensive Coles 4038 mics for instance, which are the most professional pieces of kit I own. I could factor in the cost of my guitar, banjo, and fiddle too. But, well, these are things that I would probably own whether or not I had decided to put out a CD. And I think even if I did factor in all this stuff, I could still afford to cost those CDs at £5 and make a profit. I'm even considering just giving them away, and claiming a proportion of the expenses of producing them as "promotion" on my company accounts.

Ultimately though, I'm not a professional musician. I wouldn't even describe myself as semi-pro; I'm more like 'hobby-pro'; and it's more a case of me forcing my CDs onto people than people genuinely wanting them! I don't want to lose money on making CDs, but equally I don't *need* to make any off them either.