CD Replicating/Duplicating questions

[CoryZ]

Hi all,

Background:

I am working on putting together a project voice/narration studio, and I have some products that probably fall closest to the category of audiobooks as some initial projects. I expect a low volume of around 100 sales per product per year, and I'm attempting to control costs while creating a product that has a high perceived quality and value.

Questions/Confusion:

It seems like the majority of low volume CDs are created using what the industry calls "duplication" (CD burning). Places like diskfaktory have fairly low priced packages to get started and have short lead times. However, I remember all sorts of issues with playing CD-R media in normal CD players. Have these issues been resolved, or is this media unsuited for actual commercial production? The low costs sure are appealing, but I am worried that CD-R isn't appropriate for my application.

The lowest priced "replication" (pressed cd) short run that I've seen in $265/300 from QCA ($0.883ea) for a bulk packaged run. Alas, to get a pre-packaged CD doubles the cost to $528 which is a bit higher than I'd like to pay, especially since I only expect to sell 100 or so of them. Does anybody know of a cheaper place to get fully packaged pressed CDs in short runs?

Is it possible to create a professional looking case myself? It looks like DVD cases (high perceived value and can hold sales lit) go for as little as .19/per in quantities I'm looking at. Pre-perfed DVD case inserts for photo printers are .20ea. Add a few cents for ink and shrinkwrap. So, for around $0.44 each it appears that I can package my product on an "as needed basis" and use generic packaging only when needed.

I've never seen a home printed DVD cover. Do the look OK? These aren't going in a retail store, but I can't afford for my customers to open the CD mailer and think that the packaging looks cheap. I priced out offset color printing, and in my volumes it just doesn't make sense.

Also, do hand inserted covers look OK, or do the covers get banged up during insertion without a machine to do it?

Thanks!

 

[jonhall5446]

I am going to pick up my first order form disk faktory this afternoon. I am not concerned in the least with quality since they came highly recommended. I will tell you that if you go through them make sure you give plenty of time for production. A week production time to them is actually a two-week job. They don't tell you up front about the 24 material evaluation and that shipping is 7-10 days. Closed on weekends and when dup is finished they ship on the next business day. A lot longer than seven days! They tell you all about it as you send your order.

I can't tell you about quality until I sell them, but I feel good about it. I believe that they will play on almost every player that gives them a spin, but you never know.

Search for past threads on this subject and you will find that most folks recommend these guys for the small jobs. But I know, it's just not the same as a pressed cd.

I'll give you an update in a few hours on the quality. Personally, I can't wait!

 

[jonhall5446]

Got my cd's. Better burn quality than I get at home. I am thrilled with the product. They sent along three extras too, baker's dozen. Couldn't be more happy. As soon as we sell out I am ordering more

 

[weez]

locking a CD after recording to prevent illegal duplication

after a CD is recorded, how can the CD be locked so someone can't just drag & drop your audio files onto their desktop and burn those audio files onto blank CDs? is there something that could be done at home manually in the preferences file? or is this a feature that only large CD duplication services have?

 

[gullyjewelz]

i dont know too much about it

but i have been able to rip any thing off of a cd in my possesssion

 

[CoryZ]

CD audio is basically an open standard, and most copy protection schemes have failed, especially in the US. I don't think that there is really anything you can do to "lock" your CD. The CDs that you can buy for the stand alone CD player/burners have some copy bit set to on that restricts copying, but I'm fairly sure that most software ignores it. The RIAA gets a lot of hatred and bad PR due to copying issues, so I'd tread carefully on copy restrictions. Besides, if you are small, I bet that the more people that hear your music the better off you'll be no matter what format they hear it in (look at commercial CDs and how much PR they get from say radio play).

I'm glad to hear that the packaging quality of Diskfaktory is good, and they have a good price point. However, I just read the fine print with diskfaktory, and they disclaim compatibility problems and claim that their discs play in about 95% of machines. This is probably fine for small scale efforts such as selling to friends, family, at the back of a show, or maybe even Cdbaby, but I'm not going to risk the customer service nightmare of discs not playing in my customers CD players, so I'm going with replication.

Does anybody have any experiences to share with putting together their own CD or DVD packaging? I'd like to save some cash, but I want to make sure that it is possible to do so.

Thanks!

 

[seryozha]

Tahnks jonhall...i've been waiting for someone to give a report on diskfaktory since i have been in the market for cheap cd duplications.


And to CoryZ..i have had experiences making home made tape/cd's and cases.

They were what you would expect.....basically a bootleg quality case.

I used NEATO paper with my HP desktop printer....it is ok but they take SO MUCH INK its insane...after 16 full cases...i needed more ink.


So i stopped making them sense i was spending more on ink, which is expensive in its own right, and i wasnt making too much.

 

[mr.Les]

Also interested in CD duplication experience

I am also at the point of making 50 or 100 copies to distribute or sell. If other folks have experience good/bad with these companies, please provide the comments.

thanks in advance,