CD duplication involves burning standard or distinctive shape CD-R with a laser in regular CD or DVD writer drives. The'R' after the arrangement type stands for'Recordable' (As opposed to replicated disks which are known as CD ROM in which the'ROM' stands for'Read-Only Memory' as these disks cannot be burnt whatsoever and are pressed at the time of fabrication ).
This sort of production is ideal for smaller print runs of less than 1000 discs, or at which the discs are required very fast. These discs are generally applied with photo-glossy labels which have been published at a very large quality laser printer. The laser printing process is smudge-proof and enables full color printing that is acceptable for photographs or intricate colour gradients.
This sort of production is ideal for smaller print runs of less than 1000 discs, or at which the discs are required very fast. These discs are generally applied with photo-glossy labels which have been published at a very large quality laser printer. The laser printing process is smudge-proof and enables full color printing that is acceptable for photographs or intricate colour gradients.
Another advantage of replicated CDs is that we can supply them printed, however blank, that you burn your own content onto at a normal CD-RW or DVD-RW drive. This is often helpful if you're sending out individual client files, or if the details that you will need to put on the discs is constantly shifting.
Another main kind of CD and DVD production is known as CD replication and DVD replication and involves pressing the discs out of a glass master. This process is utilized for higher volume discs, resulting in considerably lower unit costs for larger orders of 1000 disks or more.
Advantages:
Ideal for print runs of less than 1000 disks
Full colour printing
Discs can be blank for you to burn your content onto
Disadvantages:
Greater production costs for manufacturing runs of over 1000 discs compared to replicated CDs
The pros and cons of CD duplication vs CD replication (also for DVD duplication and DVD replication)
When you have to make copies of compact discs, what would be the most likely keywords you may search? To most people these two terms likely signify the same. However, to the disc copying industry there's a subtle difference. It is the purpose of this guide to clarify the gap and assist you in making the decision when to use copying and when to utilize replication, no matter you would like CD or DVD copies.
What is CD Duplication?
With the decreasing prices on CD/DVD burners, building a disc backup is now as easy as making a xerox copy before. CD burning or DVD burning is just another term people like to use with this way of making disk copies. The disc copying industry prefers to call this as CD duplication or DVD duplication.
Unless it's used by yourself, a duplicated disc will have to be marked or labeled somehow. You can do that in a lot of ways.
Mark the disc with a Sharpe
This is the fast and dirty means of labeling. As you can imagine, the disc will not be quite attractive and attractive.
Publish the artwork onto a die-cut paper tag and attach the label to the disc.
Die cut CD tags are sold at most office supply stores like Office Depot or Office Max. Companies making CD labels include Avery, Meritline, Neato, Surething, etc.. Labels come as glossy and matte. The glossy labels are best for high resolution inkjet printers. Normally glossy tags are 3 times as expensive then the matte labels. Matte labels are great for laser printers.
Once a tag is printed, it is possible to peel it off and cup it to some label applicator with the sticky side facing upward. The data side of the disc is then pushed against the applicator. Air bubbles onto the tag need to be rubbed off instantly otherwise they are there permanently. When you print the tags, be sure to coordinate with the paper profile for your printer. For instance, if you're using the Epson printers, then choose the right paper type if you print the labels.
One disadvantage of using paper tag on CD or DVD is the label adds to the depth of the disk. When combining the depth of this CD-R or DVD-R itself with the paper label, the general thickness will probably be thicker then the designed specifications. Even though most disk readers have the ability to re-read when there is mistake, this could definitely reduce the reading reliability. Another drawback, and possibly the most unfavorable one, is that the disk could possibly got stuck in slit load CD or DVD drives such as auto stereo or iMac. If your CD is any sound content, try to avoid using tag labels.
This is by far the most preferable way of printing disk label. Epson makes inkjet printers which can print artwork directly onto a disk with inkjet printable coating really affordable. The benefits will be the artwork can be printed at very significant resolutions and this eliminates the thickness issue for the paper label. The disadvantages are the method is quite slow and the disk surface is usually not water and finger print evidence. Business like Primera markets and sells a disc laminator that adds a thin film coating into the printable surface. Once laminated, the disc has a glossy looking and it becomes water and finger printing evidence. Replicator such as New Cyberian can also apply a UV dried lacquer in addition to the surface to provide the glossy feel and look.
Print the artwork directly onto the disc using thermal transport
Manufactures like Teac, Microboards, Primera, and Rimage market and sell CD printers that use thermal transport. There are two flavors for thermal; white and black, as well as non-meat. The media for thermal also come in two flavor; white or silver backdrop. The cost on the media is again slightly higher than regular disk. The priciest part is that the thermal film and the depreciation on the machine. Your minimal investment on the gear may starts from US$4000 for B/W and US$8000 for a full-color unit. Unless you intend to get a major volume of disc printed otherwise thermal ought to be prevented.
What's CD replication?
Compared to duplication, replication is the term used for high volume industrial disk copying. In a disk replication plant, making disk copies moves through the following stages.
Glass mastering
Glass master is known as the father of disk replication. A bit of glass is polished and then small holes are etched onto the glass surface deep into the substrate to represent the 1's of the binary material. The glass master becomes an specific replica of the first master. Considering that a glass master is too fragile to be get cds made handled, a metal stamper is made which can sustain the heat and pressure in your injection molding.
Stamper Assessing
As explained before, a stamper is actually used in the making of the disk, not the glass master. A stamper is generally made from an aluminum plate. It is the compliment of this glass master meaning all the 1's on the glass master will become the 0's and the 0's will end up 1 on the stamper. This male/female connection between the glass master and the stamper creates the stamper the mommy of the replication. When a disc is molded from the stamper the data reverse back to the original.
A disk is make by injecting molten polycarbonate on the stamper. The information on the disk is going to be the compliment of this stamper so they are converted back to the original as the glass master.
Sputtering
The polycarbonate discs after injection molding are transparent. A reflective mirror coat should cover the disk so that the pits of information could be read while the laser is reflected back to the disc reader. The process of making the disc reflective is called sputtering. Sputtering requires the transparent polycarbonate discs to be moved into the sputtering chamber that is then immediately evacuated of air and filled with argon gas. The argon ions are drawn to the aluminum goal by using a high voltage. Since the ions strike the target, particles of aluminum are ejected and are deposited onto the CD surface.
Artwork printing
Before artwork can be printed a lacquer can be applied to the disk surface. Art is then printed in addition to the translucent lacquer. There are two methods to publish the art; i.e. silkscreen or offset. Silkscreen printing is fantastic for vector based images and offset is good for photo based graphics. If your artwork is designed using Illustrator without importing any jpg or tiff file, then the artwork is most likely vector based meaning all the artwork elements are represented by regular shapes and lines. If you use Photoshop to make your design chances are the artwork will be photo established. Offset should be utilized for photograph based art. Color matching can only be achieved on vector based images.
To replicate or to replicate?
Together with the descriptions above it's going to be so evident that when time is of nature, you haven't alternative but utilize duplication. The unit price will be higher compared to replication but you can make certain the discs you need can be prepared in 24-hrs. Another situation you need to use copying is when the quantity is small. You likely won't here an expert printer to print 10 or even 100 duplicates unless it's absolutely necessary. By the same token, when the volume is small a duplication job will suffice. That leaves the only situation when replication should be used; i.e. when you have enough time and the volume is big, say 1,000 or more. Many CD duplication companies such as New Cyberian Systems also accept replication at the quantity of 500. But when you compare the costs for 500 and 1,000, you'll observe the difference is actually not that far.
Together with the descriptions above it's going to be so evident that when time is of nature, you haven't alternative but utilize duplication. The unit price will be higher compared to replication but you can make certain the discs you need can be prepared in 24-hrs. Another situation you need to use copying is when the quantity is small. You likely won't here an expert printer to print 10 or even 100 duplicates unless it's absolutely necessary. By the same token, when the volume is small a duplication job will suffice. That leaves the only situation when replication should be used; i.e. when you have enough time and the volume is big, say 1,000 or more. Many CD duplication companies such as New Cyberian Systems also accept replication at the quantity of 500. But when you compare the costs for 500 and 1,000, you'll observe the difference is actually not that far.