Creating CD labels for my CD's

[davd_indigo]

I asked a question over in the Music Distribution subforum, but it's quite quiet over there. Basically I want to have some CD labels pre-printed with my own design. The design is a bright yellow label with a bit of graphics in green. I plan to have this part done at a local art supply store that does printing services. Then, when I have a CD that I'd like to share with friends (or possibly archive to document my creative journey), I would like to feed the pre-printed Yellow and Green labels through my (black toner) printer for a track/song list.

 

Someone (thank you 1001gear) said that there's a school of thought that says that paper labels (linked below) are problematic. I'm looking for experiences, wisdom, comments etc. My plan would be to use these labels for some years to come.

 

Thanks, as always, for your feedback.

 

https://www.amazon.com/CD-Blank-Labe...lank+cd+labels

 

[davd_indigo]

I don't see anything definite on this whole question. But, from what I read, there are enough doubts to steer me away from using adhesive paper labels. Guess I'm stuck with the Sharpie.

 

https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub121/sec5.html

[MikeRivers]

There are specialized printers that print rignt on a disk, but for a short run, Epson (maybe others, too) has an adapter for some of their ink jet printers that carry a disk to the print head and support it for printing. You may have to give up the yellow background, though, unless you want to go through a lot of ink cartridges.

 

I've heard stories of problems with paper labels on CDs but never experienced a problem until I loaded one into the multi-disk CD player in my car . . . it loaded and played fine, but I had to coax and pull it out. It got about as far as the edge of the loading slot and stopped. Unlabeled CDs loaded and unloaded with no problems.

 

There was no evidence of stickum on the label or the disk, could have been just due to the added thickness. and too-tight tolerance in the player's eject mechanism.

[Mandolin Picker]

We have had the stickers come off. Fortunately it was in a CD deck where the top opened instead of a front slot loader. Ever since, we have not used the adhesive labels.

 

You might be able to get a printing company to print a bunch of blank CDs for you, and then burn them as needed.

[philboking]

Yeah, paper labels are not a great idea. Gave a disc to a friend. He left it in his car player on a hot day. The adhesive went all gooey. When he ejected the disc the label peeled up and the glue gunked up the mechanism. YMMV

[AlamoJoe]

Stay away from the whole paper stick on labels Dave. Take it from me. They cause all kinds of transport issues. TDK makes printable blank cd's. but you have to have a printer that will print directly on the media. I've got a LightScribe DVD/CD that uses the transports to etch designs and text on to the media, but there is no color at all.

Mandolin picker had a good suggestion about seeing if somebody like DiscMakers could provide a pre-printed batch of blanks for you.

 

Stay away from the sticky labels though Bro.

[davd_indigo]

 

You might be able to get a printing company to print a bunch of blank CDs for you, and then burn them as needed.

 

You might be on to something. If I could at least get a batch of CD's with my signature in black and a logo of 5 (white and black) piano keys. Then I could write the project name (say "Mid-November 2016" for example) in sharpie. I'm trying to make the CD more visually appealing though - I guess on a shoe string budget.

]

I'm thinking of colored plastic envelopes. And maybe printing colored sticker with pertinent info to stick on the envelopes.

 

 

I just did a quick search and found the following. It appears they deal in batches of 300.

 

https://nationwidedisc.com/cd-replication-in-bulk2

[Mandolin Picker]

Here's another thought that you might be interested in. Verbatim sells CDs that look like the old 45 RPM records. Here is a link to Amazon so that you can see what they look like (https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Digi.../dp/B00009WO51). If you combine this with a CD case that you print yourself (most all word processing programs have a CD case or CD envelope template) you could create a unique package for your music. Even writing on the label with a Sharpie would add to it.

 

Just an idea

 

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[davd_indigo]

Here's another thought that you might be interested in. Verbatim sells CDs that look like the old 45 RPM records. Here is a link to Amazon so that you can see what they look like....

 

If you combine this with a CD case that you print yourself (most all word processing programs have a CD case or CD envelope template) you could create a unique package for your music. Even writing on the label with a Sharpie would add to it.

 

Just an idea

 

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Good ideas. And your idea triggered my thought to search for colored CDs. And I found the link below. Then I had the thought - well actually the question - I wonder if I could get a rubber stamp made with my signature and my logo design. Then I could write the variables (the project name, date, whatever) in a green sharpie.

 

Now I'm wondering about stamping a CD with a rubber stamp. Chemical reactions, problems with the pressure of a rubber stamp on a CD. I dunno. Once I started reading about problems with chemicals in CDs corroding and so on. I take nothing for granted.

 

If anyone knows anything about potential rubber stamp problems please weigh in. This has been a productive thread for me. Thanks.

 

http://www.checkoutstore.com/Generic-s/294.htm?Extensive_Search=Y&Search=Color&gclid=Cj0KEQiAhZPDBRCz642XqYOCpb8BEiQANUcwT4OtwSoNFXvxZUBEXyhwmr-magpp60vj1LB7EPNymHsaAl3S8P8HAQ