Michael vg writes:
> Excuse me if I am totally offbase on this, but how much could 
> the cost be to release music that is almost 43 years old. 

The age of the master tapes has nothing to do with the current
price of a CD. Just because time marches on doesn't mean the 
cost of reissuing the music gets any cheaper. Product Managers 
(or whatever the appropriate term at Universal/Hip-O Select is) 
and Production label folks, in addition to people at the manufacturing
plants, printing facilities, etc. etc. will pool the costs and break 
down to a per-unit amount which determines what the label (and
distributor) will charge retailers for each particular reissue CD,
depending on the cost of the packaging (jewel tray type, jewelcase
or digipak type, etc. etc.), and factoring in things like outside third-
party licensing (not applicable in the case of Hip-O Select's 
title) and royalties to be paid... In the case of titles on limited-
edition labels like Hip-O Select and Rhino Handmade, the cost
has a lot to do with the fact that their CDs are actually "premiums,"
which essentially means the "break-even" cost per CD is higher 
because they're making fewer of them available ...for COLLECTORS...
These titles are typically made for the average consumer who only
wants to spend $9.99 on a CD...these are deluxe packaging CDs
and box-sets, i.e. the paper is usually nicer, and thus more expensive,
the printing is more expensive, the types of packaging elements are
more expensive, etc. In the case of the new Motown singles collection
(Vol. 2: 1962), the description says the packaging is "opulent" and
the booklets hold 88 pages of "rare photos, detailed annotations 
and scholarly - as well as personal - liner notes." That's where a lot
of the cost goes up...printing all those four-color panels....Again,
they're not for regular folks, they're aimed at consumers who want
something special...something a little different, something a little nicer
than usual. You have to pay extra for that because the labels have to
pay extra for it too. 

Bryan