Getting ready to record

$250 to record? Is that per day? If that's for the entire album, I'd question how well this friend knows what he's doing. That's extremely cheap for an entire album, even in today's digital world.

Does he have the proper mics? You don't need $5000 mics to record a good album, but you do need the proper kinds of mics for various instruments in order to get the best and rawest tones onto the recording. You don't want any background or extra noises and you want to avoid using a certain mic because is gives the instrument a 'cool sound' (unless it was always intended to be that way). Those things can be added afterward, if needed.

It seems as though you're going with a CD just to get yourself "out there." For that purpose, CD duplication will probably be a cheaper and good option.

The difference is this: duplication would be just like burning a CD on you home computer. Professionals can mass produce them relatively in expensively. Replicating on the other hand would be putting the data onto the CD during the actual CD making process. Duplicating = burning. Replicating = glass master and stamper.

I've used both. I wouldn't really recommend replicating unless its a full blown album that you are mass producing.