A look at how CD manufacturing, CD duplication and CD printing works.
Whenever a movie or music album is made, it needs to be distributed to customers in physical form. This is why the vast majority of industries that work with compact discs and DVDs need a reliable way to mass produce copies of an original. The most cost effective method of doing this is by using a process known as CD replication.
To begin the mass CD manufacturing process, otherwise known as CD replication, a glass master disc must be created. A glass plate is created, and then a laser is used to etch data in to the master. The laser cuts into the glass, which will create a series of notches that will be read as 1's, while the uncut areas will be read as 0's. This newly etched glass master will be used to create a metal stamping disc. The stamping disc will then be fed melted polycarbonate, which are accurately molded after the original glass master.
Next the discs are sprayed with a layer of super fine metal, which allows the disc to act as a mirror, reflecting the laser back to the detector that decodes the bits of data. After this step, a layer of very thin lacquer is applied to protect both the metal layer and the data itself. The final step to the CD replication process is to apply a label that displays the title of the contents of the disc, or artwork in some cases, although this step is sometimes skipped.
Alternatively, if you or your business needs from five to a couple hundred copies of a CD, you can use CD duplication services. This is an affordable service, designed for those who only need a couple discs. Examples of those who use CD copying services include small bands, orchestras, film makers, and families who want to make copies of home movies. While it may be less cost effective per copied CD than a CD replication run, most CD replication services have a minimum order size that guarantees you would end up with a lot of extra, unwanted copies of your CD.
CD duplication is performed almost identically to how you would burn CDs at your own house. However, because of the improbability of you being able to burn tens or hundreds of CDs yourself in any reasonable amount of time, there is a very large market out there for CD copying services.
If you want your CD to look appealing, you can not ship it out without a proper label. The act of printing a label on to a CD is known as CD printing. While most CD replication and CD duplication services come packaged with CD printing, sometimes businesses opt to use separate companies to print the labels on CDs they have had replicated. Because of this, CD printing is offered by many different companies as a standalone service.