Russell Don't you have kids...ie...trained monkeys? Serious...thats all you need so get a 12 yr old neighbor to do it....they just have to remember it takes 20 min to copy, and so every half hour go put a new one in and start it. Give em a quarter or equiv value for doing it. I would say....train your wife...but...im sure...if like mine....that wouldnt go over well..specially if she thinks you consider her a trained monkey :-) Russell McMahon wrote: >> 1. What is the amount you been quoted for this work? Very reasonable. >> 2. What is the amount you are willing to pay? Totally unreasonably low ;-) > Also, the process is divided into two parts: > 1. Creating the DVD image from the source material (authoring) > 2. Duplicating the DVDs from the image. > You're not clear if you need help on #1 or not. I would provide a DVDR containing a completed product which I wanted copies of. This could eg be copied by a bulk DVD copier. I am aware that my hopes are unreasonable. It's not vastly important in this case but it sets a precedent for future similar tasks. Multiply all prices by 0.75 to get $US Prices include local GST tax of 12.5% Media cost for a DVD-R in a 'wedding cake' 100 pack is $NZ0.54 for Imation brand white inkjet printable. Paper sleeves add 2.5 cents more. Cost of copying to DVD-R in 300 volume has been quoted at $NZ2.36 each Difference per copy is about $1.80 or for 300 is over $500. These are photos for a school ball for which I'll be taking the photos. This is not my day job :-) Photography is an obsess... er hobby and it is nice for it occasionally to make some money to keep my wife happy with my purchases - and I also like it to be self funding. Most things I take photos of don't pay anything for the privilege. It's also nice to be paid something for something which one might happily do for free, depending on time and other priorities. The time spent per $ earned is less important than the absolute $ earned. In this case my aim is to clear $1,000 after all expenses taxes etc and in return give all students a DVD of most of the photos. By any normal standards that's a small sum for the work which will be involved, firstly in taking the photos and then in preparing a DVD. We're working on a school website 'pre-viewing and right of veto' arrangement prior to the DVD being made to satisfy local privacy concerns. That adds some extra work. Overall this gives the students a far far far better deal than previously - they can each print unlimited photos of their choice at photo site rates. They are adding the cost of the DVD to the ball ticket cost. The cost is fixed and 'rather low'. I need to minimise production cost to make my desired net profit. So ... I will also be offering inkjet printed A4 prints at say $5 for those who are interested. With CIS ink and cheap but good paper that's mostly profit (plus labour plus printer amortisation plus ...) So. OK. Cough. The DVD return to me is $NZ5. $4.55 after GST :-( 300 sales takes $3.33 of that for my target $1000. That leaves $1.22 for ALL other expenses (not counting profit from prints). Less than $1.22 would be highly desirable. Sales may be as high as 350. And may not. I could have said $7.50 / DVD and we'd be home by now, but I didn't, and ... . Next time. I'd be happy to do it on a couple of PCs here over a week if I can find a suitably trained monkey to swap disks. (Any other suitably trained animal that would work for peanuts would do). Russell -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos. -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist