Your recommendations for CD/DVD printing & shipping services, please

In My Humble Opinion
1

My little work group is looking for a better way to handle non-digital software/data distribution (i.e. not via download). We’d be interested in a service that could

  • burn CDs and/or DVDs with our content
  • silkscreen our product logo onto the CD/DVD
  • print up a 4-panel insert for the CD/DVD case
  • assemble media + case + insert
  • accept payment from third parties and handle the shipping logistics

Having looked around the web a bit already, I can see that the first four items would be no problem - it’s the last that’s going to be a sticking point. An extra issue that that the numbers we project would almost certainly be considered a “short run” (less than 500 pieces) over a six-month period, say. By that time we might be looking to provide software updates, so biting the bullet and ordering up 500 or 1000 pieces in advance could prove to be a real waste. At the same time, we get just enough requests for our product on CD/DVD that burning/assembling/mailing the disks ourselves is kind of a pain in the posterior.

Cafe Press is the only place I’ve found so far that could do all that we’d need, from start to finish. Does anyone know of any alternatives, for comparison purposes? TIA.

2

Discmakers will do it all. And fast.
Except the last, if you want them to ship individual orders. You might want to contract with a drop ship company for that. I believe UPS and Fedex have that kind of service, also Amazon?

3

I’d seen Discmakers in my earlier search, as well as some less expensive alternatives (speed is not so much an issue for us).

It’s the payment/shipping side that is really the biggest nuisance. My group is a tiny part of a larger non-for-profit concern, not a traditional sales-oriented business, and we have very limited ability to enter into business arrangements without getting five layers of approvals. A one-stop provider/shipper would be much easier for us, logistically.

4

Oasis CD Manufacturing is a pretty decent one, but I don’t know if they would do the last one. I think you’d have to order a set amount. You may want to check out a local music studio and see what they use, as most places they would use would do data CDs (or could do data CDs) as well.

Brendon Small