Contents: What is CD Replication?   What is the difference between a CD and a CD-R?   What are the different CD disc formats?   Should I burn, or should I press my CD?   How should I prepare my Master CD for replication?   Where can I go in Canada to get CD Manufacturing Services?   Disclaimer Our Sponsors: CD Packaging Options We offer custom solutions and Carry hundreds of CD cases www.microforum.ca Packaging for CDs Jewel Cases, Sleeves, Unique and specialty items www.mediars.com Digital Music Download Cards A new way to sell Music! Physical card with Your Music! www.isongcard.com What is CD Replication?           CD Replication refers to a manufacturing process where CDs are molded from polycarbonate, metalized, and lacquered before being printed by either silk screening or offset printing technologies. This is NOT the same as burning a disc on a Computer that is equipped with a CD Writer. The technology to record (or “burn”) compact discs did not emerge until 1990. The manufactured Compact Disc differs greatly from a Recordable CD (CD-R) – refer to the next section “What is the Difference Between a molded CD and a CD-R” for more details. Back to top   What is the Difference between a Molded CD and CD-R?           Although the discs may look similar, there is a big difference between a Recordable CD-R disc that has been burned, and a “Pressed” (or “Glass Mastered”) compact disc (CD) that has been manufactured (also called “replication”). A pressed compact disc (CD) is manufactured with microscopic bumps (ON) and valleys (OFF) to represent the two digital letters of the digital alphabet. A Glass master is used to produce a piece of nickel that acts as the stamper for the CD. Each manufactured CD would have a unique custom nickel stamper. The stamper has all of the hills and valleys of the Master CD on it, and is used to transfer the information to the finished disc in a molding process that molds plastic pellets (polycarbonate) to the finished product. To watch a video of the CD/DVD/Bluray molding process, click here.           Although these discs are all the same size and similar colour and shape as a CD-R, the underlying technology and manufacturing process differs tremendously. For a recordable disc, the digital letters ON (1) and OFF (0) are represented by holes that are shot through a layer of DYE on the CDR by a recording laser. The laser shoots this hole to represent an OFF (0) letter and leaves the DYE intact to represent an ON letter (1). This is why this process is refered to as “burning” a disc... i.e. the disc is actually being burned with holes by a laser in the photo-sensitive dye layer of the disc!           To recap: A “pressed” disc with music or video on it would be manufactured with the data imprinted right on the copies. A Recordable CD, DVD or Bluray disc is actually manufactured with a DYE that can be written to with a laser device. Before there were recordable discs, the original CD and DVD players were only able to PLAY discs and not WRITE to them. These players used lasers to read bumps and pits on the surface of the disc and convert the data stream to binary for a computer or a chip to translate into sounds, videos, images, etc. Recordable CD , DVD and Blu-ray Drives have the added ability to burn holes in the DYE of a recordable disc, thereby allowing small scale production of CDs and DVDs. Back to top   What are the different CD disc formats?           CD (or compact disc) is a broad term used to describe all 12cm (5”) discs that have a capacity of 650MB/700MB or hold 74/80minutes of Audio. The exists several formats:           AUDIO CD – the standard music CD format which plays in car stereos and boom boxes,           MP3 CD – a newer format that works with select players that support MP3 audio only, the MP3 CD can be used to play music in computers and audio players that support MP3 playback.           DATA CD – this is the standard computer disc format used for storage of data. It can be further broken down into different burning formats, such as ISO, DDP, Mac, PC, etc           Enhanced CD – this is an AUDIO CD that has a data section which can be used to store video, pictures, MP3s or other computer-related data also. Back to top   Should I burn, or should I press my CD?           The question of burning versus pressing a Music CD is actually not a complicated one. Simply put, if you anticipate you will sell more than 500 discs during your lifetime, it is cut and dry…. Get your discs professional pressed! The cost will often be lowerthan burning CDs at this quantity. If you don’t think you can sell (or even giveaway) 500 discs if your life depended on it, consider getting 50 or 100 burned discs made up. But remember…the advantages of a pressed disc are many… See below for five great reasons to Press your CD and not use CD-Rs:           IMPORTANT! Five reasons why you should Press your CD, not burn it: A professional can tell the difference at a single glance The discs can be tracked by radio stations (using the ISRC code system) The discs will have important identifying codes inscribed in the mirror band, which help identify counterfeits! The cost is actually lower (when running a minimum 500 or more discs) The quality of the finished product is better.           Conclusion: Since it costs less, and offers the advantages listed above… why not have your CD manufactured in the same way as all of the famous big-named artists? Back to top   How should I prepare my Master CD for replication?           For some great tips on preparing your Master CD for mass replicating, click here. Following these tips will ensure your product can be manufactured for the masses without any problems. Back to top   Where Can I Go to Get Replication Services?           There are only a handful of true CD Replication Companies in Canada that actually manufacture CDs (rather than just offer burning services on CD-Rs).           Here are some known manufacturers in Canada that Press/ Mold CDs:           Cinram (they cater to some of the larger record labels)           Sony (They also cater to their internal record companies – Sony/BMG)           SLI (a smaller-sized replicator based in the Markham area)           Microforum - A Replicator in Toronto           M.R.S. – Media Replication Services Inc is based in West Toronto           Americ Disque (A replicator based in Drummondville, Quebec)           Duplium (Their head office is in the U.S.A, but they have a plant in the Toronto area also)           Premium – A replicator based in Mississauga, Ontario           Precision (A Manufacturer in Western Canada mainly servicing BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) Back to top   Disclaimer           You should not rely solely on this material for making business decisions. Always consult with your legal advisor. Material from other websites is provided for informational purposes only. The other websites all have their own disclaimers. Links to commercial sites are provided for your convenience only. We have tried to ensure that all of the material presented on this page is accurate and factual. Back to top   Copyright ® 2010 CDReplicationCanada.net. All Rights Reserved.