Tips on making your own business card cd’s

So you want to make your own Business Card CD’s.  Well, get a strong cup of coffee and read this first. 

It may seem at first that making a Business Card CD is not that complicated.  Simply sticking a label on a cd surely can’t be that difficult.  Not so.  Here are the options you will run into which will require decisions to be made.

  • Business Card CD’s come in several sizes
  • Business Card CD’s have slightly differing recording capacities
  • Business Card CD labels come in differing sizes to match differing Business Card sizes
  • Business Card CD labels have several different center hole sizes
  • Business Card labels are manufactured specifically for use on
    • lazer printers
    • inkjet printers
  • Business Card CD’s and labels are manufactured in various degrees of quality
  • Business card labels can be
    • standard non-gloss non-photo quality
    • matte finish
    • Gloss finish
    • photo quality finish
    • non-photo-quality finish (not the same as for photo paper)
  • There are many styles and quality of label applicators
  • There are different size sleeves (plastic transparent open-ended envelope) and other packaging
  • There are many graphics programs for the creation of graphics and artwork
  • Including music and voice in a webpage can be tricky
  • Autostart programs for the Business Card CD can be tricky

Trying to match a Business Card CD of questionable quality . . . with a specific outer dimension that has a specific hole size . . . . with a label of a specific quality with a specific outer dimension size and hole size . . . . using graphics software you may be unfamiliar with . . . . for use with a specific label applicator . . . . can make a grown man cry.  It takes a fair amount of perseverance to decide on the size of CD you want with a label size that has the center hole size you want, and is made of the correct paper for your printer, and produces the quality you want. How much time, effort, and cash can you afford to make your own business card CD's?

Business card CD’s

Business Cards CD’s are a special application of CD’s in general.  They are smaller than full sized CD’s and are manufactured to resemble business cards. You can record anything on a Business Card CD that you would on a normal 5-1/2 in size CDR, music, voice or data.

There is a misconception that a CD has to be round. CD-ROM's record from the center of the CDR to the outside of the CDR so even square CDR’s can be recorded on.  Even a chipped CDR will still work until the CD reader reads out to the broken section.

Business Card CD’s cannot be played in a car or home CD player.  They can only be used in the CD tray of a personal computer, or in any special adaptation to an audio CD player that will allow the use of 80mm CD’s.  Many people don't know that every personal computer CD drive tray has two trays -- the regular tray for the regular CD and a smaller imbedded inner tray for a smaller 80mm CD or Business card CD.

Manufacturers make Business Card CD’s in almost every shape you might want.  However, you can't randomly make Business Card CD’s in any arbitrary shape and expect it to work properly. A shaped CDR has to be designed in such a way that it will fit snugly into the inner 80mm tray of the CD drive tray.

Since any computer file can be stored on the CD-ROM, you can make use of the CD-ROM in many ways. For example, instead of sending product literature in printed format, send a Business Card CD.  A simple Business Card CD is equivalent to thousands of pages with color pictures. You can also make the CD more interesting by creating multimedia presentations in Flash or PowerPoint. You can even put a short video on it. The only limitation is your imagination and the available recording space on the CD.

Business card CD sizes.

The size that describes a Business Card CD measures the height of the CD in millimeters (mm). 

Excluding odd and exotic shaped Business Card CD’s, the most commonly seen Business card CD’s have a flat top and bottom come in 4 basic height sizes. 

  • 59mm tall
  • 60mm tall
  • 61mm tall
  • 63mm tall
  • One of the most commonly seen Business Card CD’s are rectangular in shape with relatively square corners
  • The most commonly seen Business Card CD is “hocky rink’ shaped, as if you had cut the corners off a rectangular Business Card CD

Since CD recorders record from the inner hole towards the outside of the CD, the outside shape of the CD is inconsequential  as long as it fits snugly into the 80mm indentation in most CD player trays.
Recording Capacity

Most Business Card CD’s have a capacity of approximately 50mb. 

Business Card CD Labels

Label Sizes

Whereas normal sized CD’s, the kind you play in your car or household CD player, are all the same size, business card CD’s are not all the same size.  Subsequently the labels for Business Card CD’s come in different sizes as do label applicators. Outside label sizes can be 59mm, 60mm, 61mm, or 63mm tall. Center hole sizes can be 17mm or 22mm in diameter. Labels for shaped CD’s have to be specially manufactured the fit the design of the CD.

Note: Labels with smaller center holes allow for a greater print area for presenting more graphics.

Label Quality

All Business Card CD labels are not made alike. Label quality can be annoyingly utilititarian, relatively standard, matte, various kinds of photo quality, or glossy.  I place labels into several vague categories:

  • Cheap labels that are hard to remove from the sheet they come on and equally hard to apply
  • Better quality labels made of better quality paper but are not matte finish, photo-quality, or  glossy
  • Matte finish denotes a good quality flat and non-glossy finish and presents good quality print
  • Photo quality or near photo quality presents a the best quality print (note that the photo-quality paper used for labels is not the same as for full sized paper)
  • Glossy labels have a shiny surface and usually present a good quality print

Get the right label for your printer: Labels are usually manufactured to accept toner from a lazer printer or ink from an inkjet printer.  Get the appropriate label for your printer for best  results

Label Applicators

There are many label applicators on the market.  They accommodate differing size Business Card CD’s with varying sizes of center holes.  Some are easier to use than others.  Some are better built than others.  It’s a real crapshoot trying to match a label applicator with your favorite label on your favorite size Business Card CD with your favorite center hole size.

If you are a novice and do not have a need for hundreds of Business Card CD’s your best bet may be to buy your Business Card CD’s and labels and applicator from the same manufacturer or distributor and hope the quality and applicability of what you have bought is as good as you expected. 

There are kits available which include Business Card CD’s, labels, and an applicator.  Hopefully all the parts in the kit will work with each other and cause no problems.  The quality the kit may to be good or bad depending on your taste and expertise.

 If you have need for a fair number of Business Card CD’s on a regular basis and you need the image the CD’s projects to be represent your business as favorably as is possible, you will need to experiment with Business Card CD’s, labels, applicators and kits to find the combination that works for you.  The more Business Card CD’s you use, the more you will want to avoid kits and buy Business Card CD’s and labels in larger bulk quantities and hunt for the right applicator for your labels and CD’s.

Music and voice recording

Music and voice can be recorded on a Business Card CD just like a full sized CD.  The space available restricts the amount of voice and music you can record.  Be aware that voice and music files take up much more space on a CD that data or even graphics. Microsoft includes a simple voice recording software program that allows you to record your voice and save the result in a file that can stand alone or be inserted into a website html.  In the case of a website it is possible to have a short narration or musical piece play every time a website heading is clicked.  You can experiment with voice recording with Microsoft’s “Sound Recorder” which comes with most Microsoft operating systems.  It can be found by clicking Start/Programs/Accessories/Sound Recorder.  I have found some simple instructions that will help you use this software.  This free Microsoft software uses .wav recording technologywhich can be a space-hog when saving a file.  Other recording techniques and software are available depending on the time and cash you have to invest in their use.  For Business Card CD use this Microsoft freebee software is adequate.

Packaging

There are a multitude of packaging alternatives ranging from a simple paper or plastic sleeves to protect your Business Card CD to elaborate and graphically gorgeous packaging options with written matter to back up the CD.

Graphics

There are several graphics software programs on the market which can be used to design labels.  PaintShop, PaintShopPro, Pagemaker, Photoshop, Illistrator, Corel Draw, etc.  And there are graphics software packages available especially for designing CD labels. Pick one you are comfortable with and start creating the graphics for your label.

My favorite place on the internet for obtaining graphics, clipart, fonts, etc., is www.ArtToday.com.  I subscribe to www.photos.com for higher quality photographic art.

BY THE WAY . . .

EciMedia can save you a lot of time and trouble by designing and producing your customized Business Card CD's. You may find your time more valuable selling your products and services and let EciMedia use our expertise to create a Business Card CD that will properly promote your company.

If you still want to make your own business card CD's, EciMedia has found the media and labels that will produce good results for you.