a strange balance of supply and demand

[solarbird]

I’m finding that getting someone to replicate 150 CDs with colour labels costs more than buying A WHOLE NEW PRINTER+EXTRA INK+200 blanks and doing it myself. That’s kind of goofy. Capital expenditures what.

This is relevant to anything at all because Lightscribe (which is how I printed Dick Tracy Must Die, as a DIY project) is very much a legacy technology now, and I can’t get green lightscribe blanks anymore. The closest I can find are what I suspect are remaindered five-colour Memorex multipacks, which makes my per-disc cost $4. Yeah, no.

So yeah, I dunno. I was just going to farm out this mini-run, but now I’m weighing whether just to get a whole new printer just for this. Because then I could use it for other things. Which I likely would. And also, I wouldn’t have to worry about the printing technology going away – at least, not before CDs go away entirely, if they do.

(There are, yes, still some advantages of physical media. Most notably, people like having something you can sign. Also, while less of a problem: no DRM, no subject-to-surprise-licensing-changes. And finally, physical data durability. That’s a pretty decent combination right there.)

Downsides: 1) wtf will I do with this extra device other than this? Nothing? 2) where will I put it? 3) it seems like a waste because wow, a whole printer? (see nr. 1) and 4) um… not sure about four but four sounded better than three for some reason.

I mean, I guess I can say, “my time is worth money” and have it come closer to balancing that way, but the next time I need/want some short-run CDs… yeah.

I dunno. Anybody got opinions?

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil. Come check out our music at:
Bandcamp (full album streaming) | Videos | iTunes | Amazon | CD Baby

Comments

[mdlbear]

I'd go with the printer. I did -- Epson Artisan 50. The print quality and speed turned out to be better than my older Epson all-in-one, so it was an overall win. Heck, the print quality is better than my laser printer (though it's slower and more expensive to run).

[solarbird]

My all-in-one is a large-format Brother, only purchased a year or so ago, and has a very low per-page rate. So I definitely don't want to replace it with something small - really, the whole point was to keep 11x17 as an option.

(I also still have an old HP 1200 for bulk printing of boring things. Cheapest per-page cost of all.)

[angelwolfgeek]

I've done it both ways. There's a few options here.

1. Buy labels print and stick. This is a pain in the arse. You can print 2 at a time, but sticking those labels on is a ***paaaain***. But hey, I wasn't getting paid for that, so my time wasn't someone elses money. Its still the cheapest option tho.

2. Direct printing is pretty neat. However one cd at a time for 200? Really? Time is money in a sense.

3. I know local to singapore places that'll do it for you. Prices vary hugely.

4. There's places that *sell* printed cd-rs online. No direct experience with one of em, but a random one I picked off google (https://www.wtsmedia.com/preprinteddiscs.aspx ) costs roughly 70c a disk. Would still need to burn cds yourself, but that's when you call up a half dozen friends with burners and get things done. Much less painful than printing it yourself I'd guess.

[solarbird]

I have a bulk burner, so that's not a problem.

I'd priced a few places online; that's where I got the prices I quoted. but I was sticking with ones I knew, really. I haven't seen WTS Media before. I'll look them up, see what kind of record they have.