CD Duplication:

With digital media like photos, music, and movies being so prevalent online and in peoples homes, the business of CD duplication has become very competitive. Just a decade ago our company mass produced our software CD's at about $.62/CD for lots of 1000 or more and now you can get that same amount for half that price. Almost all modern computers come with a CD drive and a DVD drive where you can copy your own CDs at home or make duplicates of your favorite family movies on DVD. You can get a pack of 50 or 100 blank CD-Rs for about $7 (I've seen 2 for 1 deals at Office Depot). Same goes for the DVD-Rs which are slighly more expensive but holds 1000s of music songs or hours of movie footage. CD DVD duplicators are becoming more affordable and businesses that need to replicate CDs or DVDs should look into buying one for the office if you need to constantly make copies of your digital media and files. Of course, if you need to 1000's of copies of promotional CDs or DVDs, perhaps an actual CD duplication service would be your best choice.

---

Who uses CD duplicators? Beyond software companies that distribute their programs via CD, there are music groups that need to sell audio CDs, some businesses promote their latest products on DVDs at trade shows, and AOL is still famous for sending CDs in the mail to potential dial up customers as a direct marketing format. On a smaller scale, many people now make copies of weddings, parties, high school sporting events, etc. and send them to friends and family for them to watch. Since the process of copying digital information onto a CD (even on your home computer) has become simplified, more and more of use are doing it. Now that computers have the necessary storage space on their hard drives, consumers are learning how to use DVD authoring software and burning their own DVDs from camcorder movies they've taken of their kids and family outings. The real question is, "Can you produce enough CD/DVD copies at home or do you need to use a Cd duplication service?". I would say anything under 30-40 copies is probably a reasonably amount to do at home. A project of that size will take a few days to accomplish and isn't worth outsourcing to a CD duplicator service. For small businesses, time and money are involved meaning using a cd duplicating service is probably in your best interest since they can do it for cheap and ultimately save you time. It's best to establish a relationship with a CD duplication service so that you know their turnaround times and feel comfortable having them take on potentially larger bulk cd/dvd projects. Many can get you 1000's of copies within a few days and some guarantee 24 hour service for smaller orders. When we used to order CDs, the hardest and most time consuming portion is the artwork that goes on the cover of the CD/DVD. Once that is good to go, then the data stored on the CD or DVD is easy to copy to 1000's more. If you keep reading below, we will go over the various options available on how to get the best quality cd duplicators for your projects.

CD Duplication Services:

Say you are a rock band and need 500 copies of your first album ASAP, who do you turn to? Most likely you'll need to find a CD duplication company that can handle an order that size. One of the first considerations you need to think about is - will you need jewel cases with artwork or just the basic CD. That will drastically change the pricing, but at a website like Oasiscd.com they specialize in doing music CD's and can do a standard 2 panel jewel case package of 500 CDs for about $1200. If you decide on a bulk order of 3000 cds you can get it for just a little over $3000. Copycatsmedia.com is another CD/DVD manufacturing company that works with musicians, record labels, film makers, and those with business applications. They have a toll free phone # if you need to talk to a real person and get a customized quote. Do you need a fast turnaround time, like 24-48 hours? Take a look at 24hrcdduplication.com - they offer Business DVD Duplication services and CDs for musicians, films, and CD business cards. You may pay a premium for quick production times, but usually it's not much different than the regular rates.

Best DVD Burners:

DVD burners are becoming commonplace on home computers and rightfully so. The dual-layer DVD discs have 8.5 gigabytes of capacity and cost less than $2 per disc. Regular DVDS hold about 4 GB of data and are much less expensive. You can back up your work projects, copy audio CDs, record your home movies to a DVD and much more. The best DVD burners are the Plextor PX-760A ($130) and the PlexTools software makes writing to DVDs easy. The Plextor PX-760A writes fast, up to 18X on DVD+/-R discs. It will burn double-layer DVD+R DL discs at 10X which easily beats out the competition in terms of speed. If $100 sounds like too much for a home DVD burner, then consider the budget LG GSA-H10N ($50). A great external DVD burner is the Plextor PX-755UF at $160. Perfect for those at home with a desktop and a laptop and need to have a portable drive to take back and forth. The new Blu-Ray DVD burners are capable of storing up to 25GB of data on a single disc which is amazing. Imagine the possibilities of being able to carry that much data around in your pocket. A top Blu-Ray internal DVD burner is the Lite-On LH-2B1S ($600) and the discs to record on are $17/each. Probably best to give the Blu-Ray DVD burners a year or so to get the bugs out. If you have never copies any data to a CD or DVD burner on your computer, give it a try. With the software from Microsoft or other leading companies, the process is really pretty easy and only takes about 5 minutes or so.

Cheap CD Duplication:

There are some services that do compete better on price than other CD duplicators. Communitymusician.com is a good site to start with if you are a musician or band that needs your music CDs duplicated for cheap. You can get 1000 CDs for less than $1000 ($1/each) which includes jewel cases, color printing, shrink wrap, plus the option for distribution. They also do DVD replication for about $1500 for 1000 DVDs. Before you commit to any company, get price quotes to directly compare costs and see what the turnaround time is estimated to be. Also, see if you can get a list of references so you can contact a few of them and check up on the overall performance of these outfits. Once you commit, you want a CD duplicator to be able to meet your deadlines and have the CD or DVDs ready to go. They need to be reputable, so saving on price for a "less recognized" service may not be worth the savings.

Do you have a quality site or product that belongs in this guide? We are always happy to evaluate or review new products and websites. Feel free to contact us at the email address below and let us know about you. If you have a demo product you'd like us to look at, please contact us before sending anything. Thank you.

Review and Internet Guide Index: Computers and Internet: - Amazon Kindle Review - Best Selling Wireless Routers Household/DIY: - Replacing a Furnace - Most Popular Bread Makers Cars and Automobiles

Audio/Video Electronics - Best 50" LCD TVs - What is Tivo and how does it work? Top-Rated Digital Cameras and Photos: - Top HD Video Cameras - Buying a Digital SLR Camera Entertainment/Hobbies

Health & Fitness: - Teeter Inversion Tables - Recumbent Exercise Bikes Travel - Disneyland Hotel Guide - Hotels and Lodging - Top 10 Things to Do in New York Sports and Outdoors