Mini CD's

[Volitan]

I like the idea of releasing EP's/Demo's/Singles on mini CD's....it kind of harkens back to the days of 7" vinyl. But I've got some concerns

 

1. Do these work in most CD players, primarily cars, and to a lesser extent, home stereos/cd players?

 

2. Are there jewel cases available for these?

 

What are your opinions, pros/cons of this method

 

And a second concern/question....What about USB flash drives? How would one go about this.....

[Liam Nixon]

I think, personally, that mini CDs are extremely cool, and they do work on most home stereos. They don't, however, work in the average car players, or most CD players with slot loading drives, so if vehicle playability is a big issue, you should probably steer away from the 3" CDs.

[Volitan]

 

I think, personally, that mini CDs are extremely cool, and they do work on most home stereos. They don't, however, work in the average car players, or most CD players with slot loading drives, so if vehicle playability is a big issue, you should probably steer away from the 3" CDs.

 

 

Well I just figure cars are mostly where people listen to music these days. Or iPod's. I doubt most people (regular people/bar patrons/gig goers) actually get a CD and say "I gotta listen to it". But if you give it to them at a gig, it's likely to get played in car, I think. If not, it just gets thrown in the car, and never brought in to be listened to on a real stereo....

 

Now what about USB flash drives...how would I go about packaging these, and/or getting these produced?

[Poker99]

Blah.

[richardmac]

Don't forget about computers - slot load drives could have an issue with mini-cd's. I wouldn't bother with a CD that can't be played in all CD players...

 

USB flash drives not as cheap as CD's - expect to make a much much smaller profit per unit, plus sell less... unless you're planning on putting a crapload of music on them and charging a higher price. Plus not everyone wants their music in mp3 format (or whatever format you end up choosing.)

[zenfleshzenbone]

Although this sounds like a good idea on paper. I think it looses sight of the whole point of promotion. You want to try and get it in the hands of people, make sure it works on the widest variety of players and in the widest variety of settings.

 

Lets say someone picks one of these cds up, really loves it, and wants to show it to a friend but cant because the cd drive in the friends car and/or computer / home stereo is not compatibly. Or even worse they stuff it in a drive that doesn't work with mini cds and it messes up their cd player!! That's another person that probably wont ever hear your music.

 

Its a good gimmick.

 

But not practical.

[Volitan]

Although this sounds like a good idea on paper. I think it looses sight of the whole point of promotion. You want to try and get it in the hands of people, make sure it works on the widest variety of players and in the widest variety of settings. Lets say someone picks one of these cds up, really loves it, and wants to show it to a friend but cant because the cd drive in the friends car and/or computer / home stereo is not compatibly. Or even worse they stuff it in a drive that doesn't work with mini cds and it messes up their cd player!! That's another person that probably wont ever hear your music. Its a good gimmick. But not practical.

 

This is exactly why I was asking

[cSandra]

mini CD's could be handy but yeah, impractical. Only if it can be played to any player then it could be really good to have CD's in that way. maybe in the future it will be the trend.

[missa]

Most importantly, they don't play on radio station players. Even if they did, your average radio dj won't take a chance on it failing in the drive. The station I work at just got a Volpat 3", and it was not added to the rotation for this. Someone climbed they would transfer it to a normal size CD, but that hasn't happened.

 

When you get to be bigger than Jesus, then you can release your stuff onto off-brand formats.

[slight-return]

release everything on iomega zips!!!

[Volitan]

 

The big innovation of technology highly affects the our everyday life.In terms of this the mini Cd's is very useful for the music lovers like me.

 

 

But I'm wondering if the casual music listener/bar patron would care for a mini CD.

[alphamarquis]

no. mini-cds are an all around pain in the ass. i think some really slick cd art and packaging would get you further than a tiny disk.

[KelchM]

Personally I hate dealing with mini cds.

[myfavguitarist]

Agreed. I can't play them in my car, so mini cds would actually force me to not buy one.

[vrm]

don't care for the mini cd's either.

[the stranger]

release everything on iomega zips!!!

 

I still have some of those. They were a lot better than the drive that operated them.

[Bensbeenjamin]

Mini Cd's do have jewel cases located several places online, just google 3" mini cd cases and there you'll have it but as far as playability in cars, unless someone is still using a personal cd player hooked in via through the tape player or radio frequency they won't be playable in a car. I would say anything with a tray would be fine and some even have slots for smaller disks. I've never owned one so I can't say either way on whether I would buy one. I would stick with a classic 7" vinyl, everyone seems to still love that medium, check out the White Stripes they're known for putting albums on vinyl they even made one a limited release. (Can you tell I'm a White Stripes fan yet?) Anyways, hope that helped.