> Why are CD-ROM's expensive, anyway? At least, for programs that
> have many diskettes (MS-Office, any large Operating System, etc),
> it was -said- to be -much- cheaper to put it all on one CD as opp-
> ossed to mass copying many diskettes. And yet, typically CD-ROM

  It is.  Just work out how much it would cost you at home...  Don't forget to
include the time it takes to duplicate each disk!  That adds up very quickly.

> versions of a popular <hmmm... popular!> software are MORE expen-
> sive than the diskette counterparts! Hmmm... something doesn't add
> up here. Surely not....greed? 

  A lot of the CD-Rom software is more expensive, because they know they can
sell it.  Nobody wants to spend hours flipping disks, but they don't mind
paying an extra $20 to be able to just stick the CD in the drive, type
INSTALL, and come back later when it's done.

  Also, a lot of CD-Rom programs (games especially) have enhanced multimedia
support, some have full video help files, some include more options, more
drivers, or other "free" programs.  They throw this stuff on there, because
they have 660 meg to play with, instead of only 25 disks.  Making video help
files, and other things adds a lot to the cost of production.  Think of how
much it costs to make a 30 second TV Commerical.  Very similar process.

                            /\/ Richard Glidden \/\

                        --- * The Imperial Sanctum * ---
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