Friday, May 28, 2010

Security Tags for your CD Duplication Project

If you are putting your CD duplication or CD manufacturing product in a retail store there's a good chance the store will require you to provide your CDs with anti-theft security tags.

In the industry they're often referred to as Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) tags and at CDwest.ca we can supply and insert Sensormatic "Ultra Strip" tags into your CD packaging - be that Jewel Case or Digipak.

For the Jewel Cases and Digipak trays it is most common to place the anti-theft tag on the surface of the disc tray which is then hidden hidden under the CD when it is placed in the case.

The Ultra Strip III Low Profile tag measures just 1.76” in length x 0.4” in width x 0.047” thick, and is placed inside the CD or DVD case. The exact location of the tag is dependent on the type of case and the amount of room available. It features a lower cavity height, requiring the label to be placed on a rigid substrate.

“Sensormatic” is the worldwide leader in industry-leading EAS solutions backed by more than 1,500 patents and is utilized by the countless companies and organizations around the world to reduce product losses. Today, over 80 percent of the world’s top 200 retailers that use EAS rely on Sensormatic solutions.

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CDwest.ca provides factory-direct CD manufacturing and CD duplication with a wide range of eco-friendly print and packaging solutions. From our offices and manufacturing plant located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) we ship to clients throughout Canada each day.

Looking for professional and factory direct DVD manufacturing or DVD duplication? Visit DVDwest.ca
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Recycling Program for CD Discs and CD Cases

In conjunction with our parent company Precision Disc Manufacturing Corp., CDwest.ca has launched a new CD disc and CD case recycling program to keep your unwanted discs and cases out of your local landfill.

With the knowledge that these items are not accepted by most community curbside recycling services, CDwest.ca will recycle these materials for you as a part of our existing in-house recycling program.

"It’s a simple yet effective program.” explains our company’s Vice President Bruce Durnie, “I’m not aware of any community-based recycling programs that accept CDs, DVDs and their plastic cases, so what are people doing when they want to get rid of them? If you throw them into the garbage they just end up in your local land-fill. To prevent that from happening you can now send those materials to us and we’ll recycle them through our existing in-house recycling program and channels.”

Recycle your unwanted CDs:
  • Put your unwanted CDs in a cardboard box, clearly mark “for recycling” on the box and either drop the box off or have it delivered to our shipping/receiving bay door. We will add your discs to our own disc recycling system and then we’ll recycle the box too.
  • If you are shipping the goods the responsibility for paying for the shipment is yours – we will not accept C.O.D. or ‘collect’ shipments.
  • If you are concerned about sensitive or personal data content on your unwanted discs it is recommended that you score or damage the data-side of the disc in a way that prevents the information from being accessed.
Recycle your unwanted CD Cases:
  • Put your unwanted CD cases in a cardboard box, clearly mark “for recycling” on the box and either drop the box off or have it delivered to our shipping/receiving bay door. We’ll add your unwanted cases to our own recycling system and then we will recycle the box too.
  • If you are shipping the goods to CDwest.ca, the responsibility for paying for the shipment is yours as we will not accept C.O.D. or ‘collect’ shipments.
  • Please ensure that all paper inserts and discs have been removed from the cases. The paper inserts can be recycled in your regular community-based program.
  • If you are sending CD and DVD cases as well as discs, please ensure that you supply the discs in a separate box.
[READ MORE]

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CDwest.ca provides factory-direct CD replication manufacturing and CD duplication along with eco-friendly print and packaging options which include CD sleeves and CD Digipak. With offices and manufacturing facilities located in Surrey, BC (a suburb of Vancouver) CDwest.ca ships to clients throughout Canada daily.

Friday, May 14, 2010

New CD Duplication Tower Added

At CDwest.ca we have recently added a brand new CD duplication tower to our short-run CD duplication department which will enhance our ability to serve the needs of our clients.

At CDwest.ca our short-run CD duplication department produces discs in quantities that are not cost-effective enough for replication. With our minimum order requirement for disc replication being just 300 units, most duplication run quantities are between 50 and 200 units.

We've got a  new eleven-drive disc duplication tower that consists of one master and ten slave drives that will increase our short-run CD duplication capacity very nicely indeed! The extra capacity that this new CD duplication tower provides us with will, in turn, increase our ability to meet quick turn-time requirements for the following products:
  • CD Audio, CD ROM
  • DVDR (single and dual layer)
  • Blu-ray (single layer)
  • Mini CDR and CDR Business Cards
We are happy to produce any quantity you require and because we produce almost all of our own custom print and packaging in-house (over 95%), we are able to provide some of our most popular eco-friendly disc packaging solutions in short-run quantities. This includes our Eco-Sleeves and Digipak for CD in quantities as low as 100 units.

[READ MORE]

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Choose CDwest.ca as your factory-direct partner in Western Canada for CD manufacturing and CD duplication with eco-friendly print and packaging solutions. Visit our website for an instant online quotation and directions on how to start your order!

Looking for professional DVD duplication and DVD manufacturing services? Visit DVDwest.ca

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

What Are ISRC Codes for Music CD Manufacturing?

At CDwest.ca we have seen a large increase in clients who are creating their own Master Content and Masters, and many questions arise about ISRC Codes. For example, "What are they?" "Where do I get them?" "How do I add them to my songs?" etc.

Some answers:

The ISRC (International Standard Recording Code) is the international identification system for sound recordings and music video recordings.

Each ISRC is a unique and permanent identifier for a specific recording which can be permanently encoded into a product as its digital fingerprint. Encoded ISRC provide the means to automatically identify recordings for royalty payments.

The ISRC system is the key to royalty collection for recordings in the digital information age. ISRC is a unique, reliable, international identification system. ISRC provides a unique tool for the purpose of rights administration. ISRC is a useful identification tool in the electronic distribution of music. ISRC coding is compatible with standards developed in the field of consumer electronics and is readable by hardware already used in the recording industry.

ISRC is cost effective - it can be put into operation without requiring special investment in equipment or technologies. The ISRC consists of twelve characters:
  • Country (2 characters)
  • Registrant (3 characters)
  • Year of reference (2 digits)
  • Designation (5 digits)
Important: The four elements should be separated by hyphens and the letters ISRC should always precede an ISRC code.

ISRC Elements
  • The code elements appear in the following order:
  • Country Code: represented by two letters eg (CA) which identifies the country of residence of the registrant at the time the ISRC is allocated.
  • Registrant Code: represented by three digits eg (AA2) assigned in sequence from the AVLA database that are unique for each record label/master owner. This code does not change if ownership of the recording changes or if licensed to another repertoire owner.
  • Year of Reference: represented by two numbers eg (08) identifies the year in which the ISRC is allocated to the recording which will usually be the year in which the full mastering process for the recording is finalized.
  • Designation Code: five digits assigned by the producer/owner as they choose eg (00001).
[READ MORE - additional information and where to get ISRC in Canada]

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Choose CDwest.ca as your factory-direct CD manufacturing and CD duplication partner in Canada. With offices and replication plant located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) we ship to clients throughout Canada daily.

Looking for professional DVD duplication or DVD manufacturing? Visit DVDwest.ca
.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Designing CD Booklets in Printer Spread Format

For inexperienced designers, figuring out the correct page sequencing when designing a CD Booklet can be rather confusing. This article is intended to clarify the difference between what looks right and what is actually right. In short, Printer Spreads versus Reader Spreads.

If you’d like to add printed biographical information or song lyrics to your CD duplication or CD manufacturing project you will likely need to incorporate a CD booklet into your budget and designs.

Booklets tend to be more popular than “folders” because we’re much more accustomed to the format of a booklet. Just like a book or magazine, a booklet is folded in half and is stapled in the middle, so they are very compact and easy to browse through.

Printer Spread Page Sequencing

Designing the booklet for your CD duplication or CD manufacturing project shares many of the same design rules that apply to every other aspect of your project, but there is one commonly overlooked aspect we want to bring to your attention: Printer Spreads.

Through a whole lifetime of familiarity with books and magazines we know that ‘page 3’ comes after ‘page 2’ and then ‘page 4’ comes after ‘page 3’. This is absolutely correct after a book has been printed, cut, assembled and stitched but you actually have to design it counter-intuitively.

For the purposes of your CD duplication or CD manufacturing project your ‘booklet’ is a series of 2 panel folders that are stacked together, stapled and then folded to create the book. There is a specific page order required to assure the booklet has the correct page sequence after it has been assembled, and this sequence (or page order) is referred to as Printer Spreads.

Create A Mock-Up

The best way for you to see this is to make a Printer Spread mock-up of something simple. Here’s how you can create a Printer Spread mock-up of a 4 panel (8 page) booklet using two pieces of scrap paper:

  • Stack two pieces of paper together (face to face).
  • Fold the stack evenly in half.
  • Put a staple in the fold to keep the two pieces of paper together as to create a booklet.
  • Now number each page beginning with the front cover as ‘page 1’.
  • After you’ve finished remove the staple and take the booklet apart.
[LEARN MORE]

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CDwest.ca provides factory-direct CD manufacturing and CD duplication services complete with a wide range of eco-friendly and green print and packaging solutions. With offices located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) we ship to clients throughout Canada and the U.S. daily.

Needing professional DVD manufacturing or DVD duplication? Visit DVDwest.ca

Friday, May 7, 2010

Eco-Friendly Benefits of Digital Printing

There is no question about ‘green’ being very much front-of-mind these days... and rightly so. It doesn't really matter how you refer to it... eco-friendly, carbon neutral, environmentally friendly, earth conscious, green, sustainable, or other popular catch-phrases as it all revolves around the same thing.

While the attention being put on being ‘green’ is very important and completely overdue there are many shrewd marketers and advertisers out there who will try to cash in on what they see as nothing more than the latest trend so you still need to be a discerning consumer.

● Digital printing... why not offset?

CDwest.ca recognizes the responsibility we have as a good corporate, community and global citizen so we have invested in the right equipment, processes and materials to provide the types of sustainable and environmentally-friendly printing solutions that the market wants. As a matter of fact, the bulk of the work we produce is printed digitally and for good reason.

Despite the amount of focus put on the CD duplication and CD manufacturing aspects of what we do, we're also very much a "printing company" as we produce the vast majority of our own print and packaging products ourselves.

The evolution of digital printing has revolutionized the printing industry. While traditional offset printing is considered an industrial process, digital printing is a computerized process which, by its very nature, is less wasteful and less demanding on resources compared to conventional print. Less waste and less consumption equates to a more environmentally friendly method of printing.

Digital printing has eliminated many stages of traditional printing that were time, energy and resource-consuming. This includes processes that were accompanied by liquid waste, solid waste and fumes - some of which actually require specialist treatment for disposal. Additionally, digital printing eliminates the use of chemistry for film and plate processing, as well as the substantial waste of materials used in the 'make ready' stage of offset printing.

● No ‘make ready’ = greatly reduced waste

With an offset printer you cannot simply press a button and immediately begin printing. Time is required to prepare the machine to run a specific job which includes a lot of wasteful ‘test’ printing onto paper. This isn’t simply down-time for the machine as the time and expense of the make-ready process is passed through to the client in the cost of the finished goods.

[READ MORE]
 
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CDwest.ca provided clients throughout Canada with a factory-direct partner for CD duplication and CD manufacturing along with eco-friendly print and packaging. With offices and manufacturing plant located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) we ship to clients throughout Canada daily.
 
Looking for DVD duplication or DVD manufacturing? Visit DVDwest.ca
.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

CD Digipak Special Pricing for May

CDwest.ca has another great CD Digipak price for our May VIP Special!

This month we're featuring our CS1020 style CD Digipak which is available in quantities as low as 100 units and we're sure you'll find that these are the best retail prices you'll find anywhere in Canada.

To get access to this great deal all you have to do is join our VIP Program - it's absolutely free to join and it's very easy to sign up.

Our CS1020 special is all-inclusive featuring full colour disc print, all set-ups, clear or black digipak tray, 4/0 digipak print, assembly, wrap, barcode, pre-press, one round of .pdf proofs. The disc tray can be placed in the middle or right-hand-side panel.

Now, what if you really like this special deal on CD Digipak but you're not quite ready to take advantage of it in May? Simply place a 50% downpayment anytime in May we'll be happy to hold the price for you until you're ready with your production assets.

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Choose CDwest.ca as your factory-direct partner in Western Canada for CD manufacturing and short-run CD duplication services complete with eco-friendly print and packaging solutions. Located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) we're proud to be the manufacturer of choice for clients throughout Canada.
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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

CDwest.ca Sponsors CD Digipak Prize Giveaway

In combination with the Alberta Music Industry Association (AMIA), CDwest.ca is pleased to announce that we are offering a CD Digipak Prize Giveaway to AMIA members in good standing.

The prize package has a retail value of approximately $1,200.00 and consists of the following:

300 CD Digipak
Professionally replicated CDs with full colour print.
CS1000 style CD digipak, clear or black tray, full colour CMYK (4/0).
All set-ups, assembly, pre-press, barcode and wrap included.

100 Posters
11” x 17” posters, printed CMYK (4/0).

200 Stickers
3” x 3” posters, square corners.
Printed CMYK (4/0).
Not for outdoor use.

Free Shipping - free shipment to any 'regular service' courier destination in Alberta. Single destination only. For off-line or extra-charge destinations a fee may apply to cover the extra charge.

[READ MORE]

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Make CDwest.ca your choice for factory-direct CD manufacturing and CD duplication including eco-friendly print and packaging. Our offices and manufacturing plant are located in Surrey, B.C. (a suburb of Vancouver) and we ship product daily to clients throughout Canada and the USA.

Looking for professional DVD duplication and manufacturing in eco-friendly packaging? Visit DVDwest.ca
.