PHP and mySQL

I have a little problem when trying to count the number of results returned in a mysql query. I was using mysql_num_rows() to do it with no problems, but this isn't as quick as using mySQL's COUNT(*), or so I have been told so I swtiched. Here's a snipit of the code... $sqlinfo = "SELECT username, COUNT(username) as count FROM usertable WHERE username='me' GROUP BY username"; $sqlresult = mysql_query($sqlinfo) or die(mysql_error()); $count = mysql_result($sqlresult,0,"count"); if ($count <= 0) { ....FAILED.... } else { while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sqlresult)) { $username = $row['username']; } } The count value is set correctly but: when the while() loop is executed...no values are set (there are a lot more, but I shortened it for spaces sake). So, $username is null. If I remove the $count line, it works....any suggestions? Max