Tech: Help Printing CD Covers

Subject: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: MikeL2
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 11:14 AM

Hi

I am creating a number of DVDs & CDs for other people. I have the material on the discs & I want to create printed Jewel case covers containing Pictures and text, particularly headline text.

Any suggestions for appropriate software would be appreciated.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 11:36 AM

You can do it with WORD, setting up table columns with the dimensions of the jewel case opened up as landscape. You can do graphics in some other software like Photoshop or Illustrator and then paste the jpg file into the WORD cell or print right from the other software. Years ago I also used a product called CD Stomper, which used special forms and templates. Another way to get templates is to go to one of the production sites like Mixonic or Discmakers and download their graphics templates for the size you want.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 11:39 AM

Oh, and get some card stock to print on, rather than regular printer paper. Makes a sturdier insert.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 12:10 PM

I use slim line jewell cases, they take up less shelf space and you don't need to print tray cards. The software I use is photoshop. Make a 4.5 inch square photo/image for the cover, type the notes within another 4.5 inch square area and print the two side by side. Fold down the centre and you have it. Photo quality ink jet paper gives a good quality print.

Hoot

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 02:19 PM

A quick Google search: cd cover maker gives loads of options.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Pirinting CD Covers
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Sep 14 - 03:30 PM

I used a template made available by a printing company when I did the covers for Bobert's CD a few years ago. A search for a CD slim line jewell case cover template comes up with quite a few hits.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 04:55 AM

Hi

Many thanks to you all. There are a few things to go at here.

I have only recently re-started to produce my own CD's & DVD's again after a long absence. I used to a a very simple but effective program but in the passage of time ( and computers) I no longer have and can't remember what it was called.

I am sure though you have given me some good ideas and I am raring to go.

Many thanks again

Mike

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 05:19 AM

Whoops! My apologies.
In the post above I gave the dimensions at 4.5" x 4.5". I should have said 4.75" x 4.75".

Hoot

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 05:57 AM

iTunes gives you a choice of basic templates with track listings - you can use other software to twiddle with it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 09:54 AM

Avery provide free templates for MS Word.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 10:33 AM

HI Hoot

<" Whoops! My apologies.
In the post above I gave the dimensions at 4.5" x 4.5". I should have said 4.75" x 4.75".

No problem....I spotted it.

Thanks

Mike

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: treewind
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 01:43 PM

For home made stuff I use a word processor (Libre Office, but I'm sure Word can do all the same things)

I set up the booklet as a two cell table with fixed size 121mm x 121mm square each cell. After that, just fill in the text and graphics...

If you centre it properly and you have a duplex printer you should be able to print on both sides to make a 4 page booklet, and the same on two sheets for 8 pages if you're really ambitious.

You can also make a table-based template for tray cards, with two thin vertical cells left and right, in which you have to figure out how to do vertical text.

For properly manufactured CDs I use Scribus which is a powerful free DTP application that can produce high quality PDFs required by the printers. Any decent DTP package should be able to do the same. It's very different from a word processor and takes some getting used to but in the end more precise and better for the job.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Gurney
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 05:21 PM

Nero. Often comes free with hardware such as CD/DVD burners.
You could ask your friends is they have the CD for it.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 04 Sep 14 - 06:03 PM

I have used the Acoustica CD-DVD label maker for a number of years. The cost is $21.95 and it has a lot of templates that make the process smooth and easy. It is worth checking out. When I first started using it, a free trial download was available. It supports printing directly to discs if you have the printer. The program also reads the tags on the disc if you have put them there. I use the freeware Media Monkey for that. It saves retyping artists and titles, etc. With the templates and designs available, the time spent creating a label is amazingly short and the quality excellent. As for paper you can use card stock which is better than ordinary typing paper, but paper can be bought in varying thicknesses and I use what I can find locally that is heavier than the usual but not as thick as card stock. Some papers may give you a better quality of photo print. That is a matter of personal taste and desire. The cost of producing CD labels is mostly from the ink the printer uses.

If you are going to print hundreds or thousands it might be more economical to make the master label and have the copies done by a printing company. Printers are available designed to print multiple discs.

Good luck.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 04:31 AM

Like Treewind, I would recommend Scribus, and not just because it is FREE.
Desk Top Publishing software gives you 100% control of where something is positioned and the size of images, unlike word processors, which move stuff at random if you dare to add an extra word into a line of text.
With DTP you put boxes on a page,then fill them with text or images. You can control the dimensions and exact positioning, usually by typing in real measurements (Up 1.23cm and Left 2.45cm will put the box exactly at that place).
It takes time to set up a blank page, but once done, you can save it as a template for every similar project. If you asked nicely, someone here might already have a template set up for printing CD covers.

I have done advertising flyers and business cards using Scribus and it is not difficult to use. It just takes a different way of laying out a page. Imagine cutting out photos and gluing them on to a sheet of A4. This is the computer equivalent - Simple!

Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 08:44 AM

I would also advise you to have them laser-printed as ink-jet printed inserts will run, bleed and fade.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 12:03 PM

Hi

Thanks very much for several interesting suggestions.
I am trying some of them out and hope to be able to do what I wish to do.
So Thanks again for your help and assistance.

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: treewind
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 01:04 PM

"If you are going to print hundreds or thousands"...

If you need 500 copies of the same CD you get the CDs pressed and the pressing plant does all the printing: tray cards, on body, booklet. And definitely use a proper DTP program to do the layout for the reasons Geoff explained in more detail than I did, and because the pressing plant with want the artwork professional grade PDFs.

I don't think that's what the OP wanted though, I think it was for a handful to be home-made.

(I learned a hell of a lot of new stuff about printing by doing this, like why and how to export CMYK instead of RGB, and to set black text in overprint mode but other coloured text in knockout, and that Adobe reader is the only viewer that will show overprint properly, and how to use Scribus...)

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 04:21 PM

Personally, even if I was only doing a single sleeve, I would rather DTP than Word Process.
Once a template is set up ans saved, it is a simple job to place text boxes and pictures.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 05 Sep 14 - 05:45 PM

Woodsie says:

"I would also advise you to have them laser-printed as ink-jet printed inserts will run, bleed and fade." ???????????

I have printed around 400/500 CD/DVD inserts when I have converted my Cassettes to CD and Video tapes to DVD and always used an ink jet printer and never had them run, bleed or fade.

I have also printed hundreds of photographs with ink jet - no problem.
Are you using the correct paper and using the correct settings when you print?

Hoot

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 03:19 AM

I use Word.
Delineate the cutting edges with a line or two (maybe a box - see below) in very weak grey and guillotine by hand and fold along one of the lines.

Sometime I put two on an A4 sheet - that gives 1 & 3/4 of the width of the jewel case - fold to fit. if the text is too much I opt for one in the centre which makes for more cutting.

Just a thought but with the 1 & 3/4 wheeze you could fold the second instead of cutting and get 2 X (1 & 3/4) of real estate.

My printer does double-sided which makes for easier life, but you have to be careful with the artwork. Too much ink makes the second side bleed. My solutions are: heavier paper and print the less inky side first. Remembering to set "print double" is a chore and unsetting for the next type of printing too. Chore - not for the hassle - more for the annoyance when you forget.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 03:28 AM

My Epson PX730WD also prints direct on the CD/DVD which makes for a better product. Stick-on labels are fine and cheaper when the ink runs out mid print, but.....

If the recipients leave the disk in a hot car or on a sunny windowsill then the print doesn't peel. If they did those things the disk would soon fail but at least the label wouldn't start to lift inside a car CD player!!!!!

& I installed a "Constant Ink Supply" which is cheaper to run, but more important, it doesn't streak which dry jets, as long as it prints something regularly. Though it can report empty cartridges (because it is not made by Epson) - then you have to force the print or switch of and on. Not a big problem, but big benefits.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Woodsie
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 07:48 AM

They certainly can bleed or fade over time. Yours havent because you have them correctly stored as it seems you have produced them. but if say you leave an inkjjet print for some time in a humid atmospher ornear a kitchen or in a bar they fade,and/or run. That's a fact.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 09:17 AM

Virtually any type of printed matter would deteriorate under those conditons.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 10:58 AM

Here's a link to templates from Mixonic, any kind you might want. I used a couple of them in Photoshop to create my graphics for our last two CD's, then had Mixonic produce them. Came out fine!

Mixonic Templates

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Barbara Shaw
Date: 06 Sep 14 - 11:00 AM

Uh oh, the punctuation police are gonna get me for that apostrophe in CDs... And for gonna.

Subject: RE: Tech: Help Printing CD Covers
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 Sep 14 - 06:14 AM

but if say you leave an inkjjet print for some time in a humid atmospher ornear a kitchen or in a bar they fade,and/or run. That's a fact.
all very true but they can read it for a long time, which may not be true of the disk contents. The burn process hits the layers with a high temperature for a very short time. The sun hits it with an elevated temperature for a long time. Heat work is "time X temp".
Even in a dark cabinet there is little guarantee that the contents won't corrupt after (say) 5 years. Even if you pay half the price of a cup of coffee for "long life" disks you may find the odd one go in 10 years, though I hope not.
The essence is you can't control how others use the disks. So it is wise make sure they aren't put in the situation of attempting to use them when the label is peeling and risk gumming up a player. If it is a slot player in a car - that is pretty serious.
If the ink fades it is obvious it is fading and they can write on the label. But not if it is stuck in a player!