mastering or dupes/artwork

[Mountainmirrors]

Greetings!
Here's a question for you.
Let's say you've got 300 bucks and a bunch of great tracks. Ready to release something.

Would you rather use it for:

Pro Mastering, use free artwork and burn your own dupes (or do dupes from MP3.com).

-or-


EQ and limit yourself and invest in duplication and possible art?

Why?

Gratefully,
Jeff

[Abyyss]

I'd go for ya' first idea, but don't take my first word for it

[jugalo180]

go with the first decision. artwork is benificial but, you don't wouldn't buy a bottle of urine because it has a pretty label would you? i'm not trying to be funny, but as a graphic artist and a consumer i just thank that people would be more satisfied with quality from the actual product and not the packaging. i'm not saying you can't do a good job with mastering but creating your own cd cover i think is a lot less of a hassle. it really comes down to what you want, pro sound or pro packaging.