Les,
 
Where are you getting those price estimates? Right now, here at home, we
have all the equipment necessary to turn out a mother disk for about
$1500-2000. After the mother disk is created, the copies are very
inexpensive. The blank CDs cost about $1.00 apiece, and copy very quickly.
 
For about $300 you can buy a CD disk writer, and a standard desktop with a
Pentium speed chip can assemble such a CD as you are proposing.
 
Also, I have explored this idea with several presses, and they tell me if
the CD can be assembled, they would love to help with the distribution.
 
 
>Cost of Production
>
>Depending on the design and complexity of a multi-media presentation, we
>have been told to anticipate expenses to produce a single CD ranging
>between $40,000 to $60,000 for 1000 copies.  That represents a $40 to
>$60 price per CD to recover the total expenditure if all 1000 copies
>were sold.  Given the anticipated target market, it is estimated that
>200-400 copies might be sold in the first two years.  If the society
>wants to recover its production expenditure within a two-year period,
>then prices would have to range from $100 to $300 per CD.
>
>A price of $100 per CD is probably the highest reasonable target price
>for institutional subscribers.  Thus, with a production cost as low as
>$40,000 and initial sales as high as 400, the expenditure could be
>recovered.  However, with a higher cost and/or lower sales, additional
>funds would need to be acquired.
>
 
Anita Cohen-Williams
Listowner of HISTARCH, SUB-ARCH, SPANBORD
Contributing Editor, Anthropology page, http://www.suite101.com
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/cohwill/index.html
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