So far, I've loved Allmediaoutlet.com for my DVDR needs. I recently bought 200 DVD-Rs for $62. Not too bad.

Now I have a specific need for a particular media. I'm looking for CDRs with a black glossy surface that's suitable for thermal printing. I'm looking for both regular and mini CDs. I've been looking everywhere for good luck, but I guess I'm just not Googling correctly. If anyone knows where I can get some, I'd appreciate a link. Thanks!

*edit*
I just wanted to add that this, which is the only type of black CDR I can find, is not what I'm looking for. Why would you want black on the recording surface and a plain old silver top?

Black bottom discs got popular during the Playstation period. People thought they looked "cooler"

Well, any ideas on why it seems so impossible to find CDRs with various colored faces? With the amount of crap we can find on the internet these days, I would have thought that what I was looking for wouldn't be so unusual.

More:
http://store.yahoo.com/800dvdr/cdrblbl.html

Sweet! Thanks for finding those. I'm very impressed One question, though: should I be worried about CD player compatibility with black-bottom discs? These CDs will be music CDs that will have to play on any CD player that can play CDRs.

No worries. I have used black bottom CDRs to make demos for bands I know. It just gave a cool look with a monochromatic label that was used. These were standard redbook CD-Audio, so you should have no trouble.

Thanks, Paul. I think I'll give these a try. I hope their faces are fine for thermal printing.

And if anyone has a lead on this type of CDR (or with the silver recording side) in miniCD form, that would be fantastic.

None more than usual. The black bottom is transparent to infrared so from the CD players POV, it's exactly the same as a normal disc.

Thanks again, Rob. I ordered from the second store you listed, and while 45 cents isn't the cheapest these days, considering ther rarity of the items I think I came out okay. I'll be printing on these with the silver CW-50 ribbon. I figure that should look pretty cool.

Thanks, and my friends' band thanks you, too


ps- did anyone notice the CW-100 is out? it appears to be exactly like the CW-50 only it rotates the disc for you. Oh, and a higher resolution, which would indeed be nice. Sometimes things look a little too pixelated on the CW-50.

Damn, it looks like printing will cost you an additional $0.19/disc minimum - if buying media in 3-packs. I suppose this is ok for one-offs and other very low volume use, but if you need to do things a few hundred at a time, it's better to pay someone to just mass-duplicate from a master for you (other benefit of not using CDR media).

Bruno

Option #3: Do something really creative. It sounds like you're doing a pretty small run so this might be an option... some of the coolest packaging I've seen was done by hand by the band members. One of my favorites is a plain brown bag, the CD inside being an almost exact fit, folded over and hand stamped/stenciled/silk screened with the band name and artwork. Things like that take time, but those who buy it really appreciate it. Or you could do something simple like a plain paper case, methods for folding can be found here.

A couple of my friends both run labels with small run releases. I don't know if you are interested in getting the whole disc and packaging handled for you, but if so i can get details on who they use. It can be incredibly cheap for discs with art and inserts. I know they use the folks at http://www.hotironpress.com (also friends) who do amazing hand screened, die cut, and pressure printed stuff when they want something custom. Check out their portfolio for some ideas.