Saturday 2 February 2013

What you Should Know When Purchasing a CD Duplicator

By Larry Pines


A CD duplicator is a major purchase, but if you are in the business of creating CDs on a large scale and quickly, you will find they are well worth the cost. Over time you will actually save money with a duplicator, your only ongoing expense will be blank CD's. Who or what type of company needs a CD duplicator. Bands who are just starting out are one, as are companies who distribute media to customers on a large scale. In either of these cases, a duplicator will make the process faster and much simpler. Do you need a CD duplicator? First, you need to answer a few basic questions. How many discs do you want to create in one sitting? What types of discs are you duplicating? How quickly do you need the copies?

Your first order of business is to determine what type of duplicator your need. Do you want one that connects to another computer or is a standalone unit more up your alley? Another major concern is the particular capabilities of each device. Will you be creating and duplicating DVD-R material? This requires a different type of technology, and you will need to know the difference. For straightforward disc, copying a standalone unit is a good option. It is easy to use, simply load the master DVD/CD, enter copy quantity and press the start button. In addition, a standalone device does not require tying up a secondary computer.

If speed is important to you, choosing one of the faster models on the market is necessary. When a CD duplicator copies media, it is not done instantly. It will take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to duplicate the media, depending on the size of the file and the speed of your duplicator. Generally, CD-R discs can be duplicated at a faster pace than DVD-R media. These are generally the things that effect speed: The number of target drives in a duplicator; each drive can copy one disc at a time. If your system comes with 8 drives it is going to be faster than one with 4. Drive speed; more expensive drives are normally faster. Blank CDs and blank DVDs quality; better quality, less duplication errors, faster writing time. It makes sense that faster duplicators will cost more.

If you look online, you can find CD duplicators with varying speed levels. As a rule, you will want a model that can create DVD-R disks at a speed of at least 24x and can create CD-R disks at a speed of 48x. Industrial buyers will want even more speed and will want to find a unit that can create multiple disks at once. The volume of the media that you will be creating is important when selecting a CD duplicator. Larger businesses will likely want an industrial level duplicator, since they will need more output than a smaller business. Of course, heavy-duty duplicators are more expensive, but they also perform at a higher level.

You will be happy to know that CD duplicators have quite a few features not the least of which is the option to test, compare and copy your media before copying to multiple discs. You can also use the duplicator to mix audio tracks, which means any last minute changes are a breeze to complete. As if that were not enough you will be happy to know that once the machine is fully set up, you can walk away and return to collect your discs later.

Do not forget to check the supported media types before you buy a CD duplicator, particularly if you want to do more than CD-R's. Many of the good units will work with CD+G, VCD and ISRC. This is helpful when you want to create media in a number of different formats.

Research is vital when purchasing a CD duplicator, as it is with any major purchase. Why are you making this purchase in the first place? What is the size of your business? These are important questions to consider when shopping around for duplicators. Remember the device is only part of the equation, you want to find high quality blank DVDs or CDs. Think about it, you will may be presenting the finished copy to clients or potential clients; you want the best quality you can afford.




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1 comment:

  1. Your first order of business is to determine what type of duplicator your need. Do you want one that connects to another computer or is a standalone unit more up your alley.
    cd duplicator

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