The value and quality of the duplicate is high,
with the sound quality being very good and matching
the quality of the original. There are many benefits
to CD duplication, including:

1. Its less expensive to do CD duplication
than it is to do a full replication, especially when
the demands are much lower.
2. In most cases, during a replication there
will be a minimum amount that is actually more than
needed. By using CD duplication, you can actually
eliminate this extra replication.
3. Believe it or not, it can actually be
much faster to use CD duplication than a full CD
replication run.

There are other things that can cause you to take a
second look as well. With most cases, CD duplication
will cost more per CD than that of a full run
replication. In the long run however, this may still
be much lower. Not all will look like the original
either, as some will have blue or even black
burn marks on them that make them appear to be
duplicates.

CD duplication, never the less, is a widely used
system of replicating CD’s in a very effective and
timely manner. The technology is always improving
as well, so you can look for updates in the quality
of CD duplication systems as well – which is great
news for those who enjoy CD duplication.

BLER
Block Error Rate. This is the raw digital error rate
before any type of error correction.

CD
This the Compact Disc, a digital medium that’s formed
of a 12cm polycarbonate substrate, a reflective
metalized layer, and a protective lacquer coating.

CD-R
Compact Disc-Recordable. The term CD-R is used to
describe the technology of recordable CD along with
the equipment, software, and media that are used to
make the recordable disks.

Data layer
With CD-R media, this is the organic dye that is
sandwiched between the polycarbonate substrate and
the metalized reflective layer of the media. CD-R
disks don’t have any data on them at all until the
are recorded.

Injection Molding
This is a manufacturing method where the molten
material is forced into a mold, normally under
high pressure, then cooled so that the material
will take on the shape of a mirror image in the
mold.

Media or blanks
CD-R media are the disks that are used to record
digital information using a special recorder and
premastering software with a computer. These discs
are made of a polycarbonate substrate, a layer of
organic dye, a metalized reflective layer, and a
coating of lacquer for protection.

Organic dye
The data layer of CD-R media is made from a dye
that is melted during the process of recording.
Where the dye is melted, becomes opaque or
refractive, scattering the reading laser so that
it isn’t reflected back into the reading sensors.

Reflective layer
This is the metal later that sits on top of the
dye that reflects the laser beam back to the
reading assembly. This is normally 24k gold in
CD-R disks, although it can be silver as well.

Data pits and lasers
A disc has microscopic grooves that will move
along in a spiral around the disc. CDs and
DVDs both have these grooves, with laser breams
applied to scan these very grooves.

As you may know, digital information is represented
in ones and zeroes. Inside of these discs, very
tiny reflective bumps known as lands and non
reflective holes known as pits, which can be
found beside the grooves, reflect both the ones
and the zeroes of digital information.

By reducing the wave length of the laser to 625mm
or more infrared light, DVD technology has
managed to write in smaller pits when compared
to the standard technology of CD. This will
allow for a greater amount of data per track
on the DVD. The minimum length allowed for a
pit in a single layer DVD-R is .4 micron, which
is obviously more than the .0834 micron that a
CD offers.

The tracks of a DVD are narrower as well, which
allows for more tracks per disc, which also
translates into more capacity than a CD. The
avaerage single layer DVD holds 4.5 GB of data,
while a CD holds a mere 700 MB.

Layers
As stated above, a DVD has smaller pits and the
lasers need to focus on them. This is actually
achieved by using a thinner plastic substrate
than in a CD, which means that the laser needs
to pass through a thinner layer, with less
depth to reach the pits. It’s this reduction in
thickness that’s responsible for the discs
that were only 0.6mm thickness – which is half
that of a CD.

Data access speed
DVDs will access data at a much faster rate than
a CD can. The average 32X CD-ROM drive reads
data at 4MB a second, while a 1X DVD drive reads
at 1.38MB a second. This is even faster than
an 8X CD drive.

Universal data format
The recording formats of CDs and DVDs are quite
different, as DVDs use UDF, or the Universal
Data Format. This format allows data, video,
audio, or even a combination of all three to
be stored in a single file structure. The
advantage to this is any file can be accessed
by any drive, computer, or even consumer video.
CDs on the other hand aren’t compatible with
this format.

If your band is ready to start selling CDs, your
best option may be to have your CDs replicated.
Replicated CDs are the same CDs that you’ll find
in music stores by major label artists. They all
have excellent artwork printed on the CD inserts,
nice tray card inserts, screened art on the CD,
and they are even shrink wrapped.

The retail CDs that you buy aren’t duplicated, they
are replicated. This means that an exact replica
of your master CD has been stamped out on all of
the other CDs. If you are serious about selling
your music for profit, replication is the way to
go.

The fact is, most stores simply won’t sell duplicated
CDs. Duplicated CDs can be against the law,
which is the main reason retail stores simply
won’t carry them. Replicated CDs let the stores
know that the CD is legit, and they will almost
always carry those CDs.

For musicians and inspiring bands, CD duplication
can tend to be a bit more expensive than that
of replication. To duplicate CDs, you need a
computer with a CD burner, your CD-R media, cases,
and a lot of man hours.

With CD replication, you can get many more copies,
professional artwork, a barcode for inventory, and
cases included. Replication is obviously to
expensive for those looking to simply back up
pictures and data on a personal computer, although
the prices are just right for musicians looking
to make profit off of their CDs.

1. Always use the highest quality media that you
can obtain, as all media isn’t the same. Do
your research, take your time, then choose a
brand that will produce a high quality disc each
and every time you duplicate or replicate.

2. Avoid copying from a network source. If the
source files for your disk are on a network
drive, copy the files to your local disk before
you burn a disc. If you can’t move the files
to your local drive, try using the copy to hard
drive first feature. When doing this, your
burning software will create a temporary image
file during the burning process. Once the
burning has been completed, the temporary file
will be deleted.

3. You should always avoid burning on a laptop
computer that is running on low battery power.
The fluctuations that will occur in the available
battery power may cause you to have poor results
in your duplication.

4. Always make sure that you finalize your
disc. If you fail to finalize, the disc won’t
play back. Finalizing will also help increase
the reading compatability in other CD-ROM drives.

5. Never use the packet writing method to burn
a master disc. This method is very common with
burning drives that have re-writing capabilities.
This method will produce discs that can’t be
read on many CD-ROM drives.

6. Avoid any type of impact or movement of the
drive during burning. Doing so can cause the
laser to skip or jump tracks, which will lead
to errors or a bad disc.

7. If available, use the “burn-proof” feature.
This feature will allow the drive to slow
down the burn speed in the event the computer
can’t supply the data fast enough. Although
this can increase the burn time, the quality
of the disc will be much better.

8. You should avoid having multiple applications
open when burning, especially those that
access the Internet or a network. This can
hinder your computer’s ability to supply data
to the burner drive at the necessary rate.

If you follow the above tips, you should
produce a master disc of excellent quality. A
master disc is something you’ll want perfect,
which is why you shouldn’t take any risks.

Typical information products contain CDs and/or DVDs as part of the package. When you’re working with a disc duplicator you’ll need to decide if you want to replicate or duplicate the discs you’re going to have produced. People want to know what the difference between the two is and does it matter at all? This article takes a look at the two methods and what it means to you.

CD/DVD duplication in its purest definition means to copy discs. Actually, there are two different means to copy a disc – replication and duplication

Replication
Starting with a glass master that contains the data for the disc, a metal stamper is formed. The stamper is loaded into a molding machine and molten polycarbonate is injected into the mold thereby manufacturing the disc with the data stamped into the disc. A reflective aluminum layer is applied and the discs are printed with artwork.

Duplication
Starting with pre-manufactured blank recordable discs, the data is “burned” onto the discs one at a time. The process takes several minutes per disc depending on the speed of the recorder and the amount of information you are recording.

Does It Matter?
Some people will tell you not to duplicate audio or video but only replicate. Others say there’s no difference at all. There is no data difference between a processed duplication and a glass mastered replication disc.

But, there are some differences and sometimes they do have an impact. The reality has more to do with the playback equipment than the manufacturing process. Older, “set top” DVD players (hooks to your TV) sometimes have problems playing duplicated discs but rarely have problems with replicated discs (rarely doesn’t mean never).
Industry experts estimate that among the current installed drive base (computers and players) about 98% of the CD players will play duplicated CDs, and about 90% of the DVD players will play duplicated DVDs. Recordable media is somewhat vulnerable to sunlight.

Printing
No matter which way you go, your discs should have a label. Why? So people will know which side is up and which side is the read side of your disc. Replicated discs are typically silk screened. Duplicated discs are usually either thermal printed or paper labeled.

The ultimate decision is yours of course as to whether you’ll have your discs replicated or duplicated. You’ll have to weigh the larger up front cash commitment with replication vs. your ability to sell your product and the potential differences between replicated and duplicated discs.