Compact discs have been around for over 30 years.  Remember when the first CD burner came out on the market?  The drive itself cost over $2,000 and one blank CD-R was sold at over $5 per piece.  With the market economy and the economy of scale at work, now a high-speed CD burner costs less than $20 and a blank CD-R is at the 10 cents level.  Using CDs for digital content distribution has been a day of life.  Many software companies still prefer to use CDs to download for security reasons.  Musicians also use CDs for their music and music fans also want physical CDs as collection items.  Trade show goers use CDs to replace the good old paper brochures.  In a nutshell, the application of compact discs for digital content distribution is still all the rage.

When it comes to making copies of CDs there are two ways of doing that; i.e. one can duplicate and one can replicate.  To the laymen, these two terms seem to refer to the same thing. But in the disc copying industry, there is a subtle difference.  Duplication actually refers to CD-R burning. This is a flexible way to make CD copies. The problem is that duplicated discs have that amateurish look because the CD face is either labeled with paper or printed with inkjet.  Professional discs, on the other hand, are done by replication.  A replicated CD is pressed from an injection molding machine from molten polycarbonate. All retail CDs on retail shelves are replicated.

In the United States, there are over a few hundred CD replicators scattered all over the country.  Choosing a good CD replicator is crucial to your CD release. Compared with the money you have spent CD replication is probably the smallest slice of the pie.  It is the last stage of your production and not doing it right is also the last thing you want to see.  As in any purchasing decision, quality and pricing are the two major factors.  But if you are the first-timer for CD replication, how do you know which company will give you the best quality at the most competitive pricing?

Isn’t it true that every CD replication company claims it has the best quality and the best price? In this competitive market, we have seen only unselfish companies can survive.  Greedy companies not posting their prices on their website normally disappear from the market in one or two years.  As far as quality, the easiest way is to request samples from your prospective vendors.  Voir c’est croire.  When you put the samples side by side it will not be difficult to spot the right vendor.

Last but not least, you should always ask whether a vendor does porn DVD replication. Avoid those vendors who do is a must whether you think that is moral or not.  No matter how good quality control the vendors may claim, there is still the chance for a porn DVD to get mixed into your order.  If you think about a gospel music CD that ends up being a porn DVD, you can see how serious that is.  But believe it or not, we have seen it and heard it happen in some porn replicators.