I recently bought a used car (finally!) that has a CD player in it. Rather than risk destroying my original CD’s in the scorching Georgia sun, I have started making my own CD’s (to replace the cassettes I used to use). I use Easy CD Creator 5 to burn the discs and make the sticky labels. Rather than just slap on the titles haphazardly, I decided to design my very own record label - Rat Bastard Records. I found a humorous rat clip art (a humanoid rat wearing a sweatshirt, checkered shorts, and tennis shoes. He’s making a pathetic attempt to dance and shows his disdain by rolling his eyes up). Hell, I even go as far as giving each disc a serial number and a title (albeit numeric).
I just write the titles/artist(s) on the inside paper that comes with the jewel case. A couple times I have just typed the info in Microsoft Word. Once, when burning a CD for someone else, I scanned in a sticker that I had received from the particular artist that was on the CD. But that’s as fancy as I’ve gotten.
So far I just use a Sharpie to write the name on the disk. I don’t store them in jewel cases, so this is as far as it’s gotten. I did make a world music compilation for someone and called it “Around the World in 80 Minutes.” If not for some stupid file problems I would have put a really cool globe graphic on the disk and on a jewel insert. I ended up not giving her the disk (long [enough] stupid [enough] story). I never finished the graphic, and I still have the disk.
Data CDs, backups, etc: two seconds with the Sharpie
compilation MP3 CDs for playback on the laptop: custom labels I designed in Photoshop, mainly a simple backdrop and a list of which albums are on there.
commercial CDs containing installers for Mac and PC of a database I developed: custom labels I designed in Photoshop and spend some time on, and only perfect printouts used, glossy hi-res inkjet label paper.
Oh, yeah. I make up weird titles for my mix CDs, and get graphics from Print Shop or have someone draw them. Some samples: Hyper Melon Mania- cover is melons plaing guitar and drums, Giraffe Wars- cover is an army type guy with a giraffe chasing him, Too Many Grovers- too many Grovers (you know, the Sesame Street character) of all sizes, drawn by my brother in Paint. I want my next one to be called Freak Twizzler Accidents, but nobody I know can draw a Twizzler on Paint.
I have been in the process of trying to get all my old Lp’s on Cd. I am able to find a lot of them on the usual P2P sites (BTW EMusic that is associated with Rolling Stone Mag has a very good selection of must-haves. It is a pay site so all the artists get paid so everyone is happy–but I digress…)
I have found a couple of cover art sites that are very nice for labels, cover art, etc you may be interested in.
Mostly I use a Sharpe. However, I have been known to leave CDs unlabeled. I don’t use paper labels at this point, because a CD someone gave to me with such a label is peeling at the edges and I don’t want it to come off in the drive.
Oh, yes. I pretty much obsessively label my CDs. It’s one of the great joys of making them. I’ve also made my own logo to put on all my disks.
My mix and MP3 CDs all have individual names, and I use the CD Stomper Pro labeling system, which works so wonderfully that I’ll never regret the $15 I paid for it. I’ve never had a problem with the labels lifting and peeling. It fits the CD so closely that there is never a problem and comes with this little base that makes the application goof-proof.
I use a Sharpie too. Kinda ironic really since Sharpie Corp has clearly said to NOT do that because the acid in the pen can eat through some cd’s. They do make a special cd writing pen just for this purpose.
I use mediaface software to print labels. I make matching inserts for the jewel cases, too, so I at least know what songs are on which cds. But, I also keep a spread sheet of what cds I own, so I can’t say that I’m * not* anal about cds.
