they taught be about the power of compact disc and how mastering makes or breaks the record: this weekend i met this really pretty singer/songwriter chick whos doin her own cd: i was talkin to her about mastering, and she was all: well were gonna produce this and that and this and that produce produce, then after all our producing, were gonna send it off and get the cds done, some local dude or something, etc and i was all NO!N!OO!O! thats the most important step: FLAT TRANSFER of the master tapes, no compression. steve hoffman is right . why they stopped making real cds ill never know. -we have the technology, why not use it-