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From: chris@mimsy.umd.edu (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: Why are CD-ROMs so expensive?
Message-ID: <21517@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 28 Dec 89 20:55:13 GMT
References: <829@tijc02.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 17

In article <829@tijc02.UUCP> pjs269@tijc02.UUCP (Paul Schmidt) writes:
>[$3000] is an outrageous price for [a] disk.  A CD-ROM costs
>about $10,000 to master and $2/disk to reproduce. ...

No comment about the outrageousness, etc.  However, unless there is
some substantial difference between mastering a CD-ROM and mastering
a regular (music) CD, these costs are too high.  A run of 1000 CDs
will cost a band around $4k: $2k for the master and $2/disk.  The
price per disk goes down as the number of disks goes up.  (It might
be $1k for the master; I forget.  Anyway, they are cheap to make.)

As someone suggested in a followup: this is an ideal chance for you
to make money.  Accrete some investors (Venture Capitalists) and go
into business selling CD-ROMs for $10/CD....
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@cs.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris