Looking for media

Posted by: Dignan

Looking for media - 07/03/2005 05:00

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?
Posted by: webroach

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 13:52

Quote:
Why would you want black on the recording surface and a plain old silver top?


Because you'll be either putting a label on or, more likely, custom painting/printing the silver side.
Posted by: tman

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 13:56

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

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 14:33

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.
Posted by: robricc

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 14:34

http://store.yahoo.com/inkrack/000cdstbkbk.html
Posted by: robricc

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 14:37

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

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 15:23

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.
Posted by: pgrzelak

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 15:28

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.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 15:35

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.
Posted by: tman

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 15:37

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.
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 16:25

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.
Posted by: hybrid8

Re: Looking for media - 07/03/2005 17:02

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
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Looking for media - 16/03/2005 16:04

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

Thanks again for the link, Rob. I bought from there and I got the discs in on Monday. They're beautiful! I can't believe they're so hard to find, because I can't imagine these being very unpopular. I guess these media companies just have to have their ugly trademarks on the CD faces.

I printed on them with the CW-50 using a silver ribbon, and I've got to say that it looks pretty sweet. I'll take a photo sometime and post it.

I have another question, though. For those of you in bands, how do you get your albums made up? At the moment, I'm helping my friends with their demo, and we're looking at two options for packaging and cover art:

Option #1: we have a lot of slim jewel cases, and so we'd need to get inserts made. This brings up two options: 1) we buy the type of paper that you find in real CD inserts, or 2) we get them printed. Considering that we'd only have office Xerox machines to print an image with a black background, we might want to get them printed.

Option #2: we order those cardboard sleeves that you sometimes see singles in. The album art we have is only front and back anyway.

Does anyone know where I can find services like this or where to find the paper I need? I'd really appreciate help on this. We've been searching around and can't find anything.
Posted by: loren

Re: Looking for media - 17/03/2005 07:46

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.