When you talk to CD manufacturing houses, the first thing they would ask you is if you want your CD to be duplicated or replicated.
These terms are quite confusing especially to new artists and they are often used interchangeably even by those who are already familiar with manufacturing CDs. Well, we cannot blame them.
When you look up the term replicate in the dictionary, it says “To duplicate, copy, reproduce, or repeat”. So replication is synonymous to duplication, then? But as my language teacher said, no two words have exactly the same meaning. True, true.
This article aims to explain the definition of CD duplication as clearly as possible so you would not have any confusion when you visit your CD manufacturing company.
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What is CD Duplication?
CD DUPLICATION is pretty much the same as burning a CD on your desktop computer.
A CD duplicator extracts data from the master disc and writes it to a blank disc. If you have your album duplicated in a CD manufacturing company, CD Duplication facilities duplicate hundreds at a time on towers that are linked together.
Each tower contains several CD/DVD trays so that many copies can be created simultaneously.
Okay. So what’s the difference between CD replication and CD Duplication?
CD replication requires a glass master or a mould of your original project which will be used to stamp/press thousands of CDs.
The CD Duplication process is much simpler compared to replication. It is pretty much like burning a CD in your own desktop computer and no glass master is required.
The quality of replicated CDs are a bit more sophisticated compared to duplicated CDs.
Which of the two do you recommend for my project?
CD duplication is recommended when you need to produce 1-10,000 discs.
If you are want to have more than 10,000 copies, then you should have CD replication because the sound quality is sharper and you the price per piece is cheaper.
If you are in a rush and you only need to reproduce less than 10,000 CDs, then CD duplication is perfect for your project. It would cost less since you would not have to spend more time and money making the “glass master” and other necessary steps.
When it comes to turnaround time, CD Duplication is much faster. It only takes 2-3 days while CD replication could take up to 14 days.
Is there a minimum order requirement for CD duplication?
One of the good things about CD duplication is that its minimum requirement is much much lower compared to CD duplication.
For CD Duplication, some companies have a minimum order requirement of 500 units.
Another good thing is that when your 500 copies are sold out, you can come back to your CD manufacturing house for more. This is very convenient for new and rising musicians.
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Unified Manufacturing is a custom CD/DVD and Vinyl Manufacturing facility based on both sides of the US. Our clients range from indie artists to major label artists such as Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow, and Ringo Starr. If you need an Instant Quote on a project AND you want FREE SHIPPING ( free shipping on all quotes from the blog) – Then CLICK HERE.
