Monday, August 22, 2011

Is CD Duplication Different from CD Replication?

There is a lot of confusion over the real meaning of the twin processes of CD duplication and CD replication. Many of us tend to think that they are essentially the same thing. And yet, the truth is, there are very important differences between the two.

One gets to hear a lot about digital media duplicating and replicating services these days. Services like CD duplication, printing of CD labels or equipment like DVD duplicators or CD packaging machinery are pretty commonplace these days. However, each has its very distinctive benefits and set of features, and we need to understand these well in order to select the right services. There are important distinctions and every client should know about them before ordering similar services.

Touching base, what is the difference between CD replication and CD duplication? Well, to state in a nutshell, the former is a process where the data is burned in to the digital media while it is being manufactured. It involves using a master stamper that imprints data on to the blank media at the time of its creation. In the latter, data is inserted into a suitable blank media using commercial CD/DVD burning equipment such as DVD duplicators. CD duplication is similar to burning a CD/DVD on your personal computer. A CD/DVD duplicator extracts data from the master disc and writes it to a blank disc.

Remember, after the duplication process is complete, the final product is a CD-R or a DVD-R. Replication stampers for CDs produce products, which are better known as CD-ROMs.

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