blob@apple.com (Brian Bechtel) (03/02/90)
This is posted in response to a suggestion by Andy Poggio
(poggio@apple.com) and a request by Ed Basart (ed@lupine.uucp). Some of
the information is Apple-oriented, but the prices and companies listed are
general. This is part of Apple Technical Report 16, "CD-ROM and the
Macintosh Computer", which is available from the Apple corporate library.
(You can try sending a request to corp.lib@applelink.apple.com. That
might work.)
Roll Your Own CD-ROM
(Or, How to Succeed In Plastic Without Hardly Trying)
Summary: You can press 100 CDs for around $1500, within 10 days, using
things you already have in your office. More CDs are $1.85 each.
(The legal beagles want me to tell you: All company names and prices are
here for your information, but Apple Computer, Inc. does not recommend or
endorse any particular company listed. Apple, HyperCard and Macintosh are
registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. AppleCD SC and APDA are
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.)
You should read this paper if youUre interested in pressing a CD and donUt
know how to do it. WeUll assume that youUre looking at a moderate number
of CDs (one hundred to several thousand) for your needs. It makes sense
to press a CD if you have 10 megabytes or more of data and need 100 or
more copies of it.
CDs behave just like a locked, very fast, very big floppy. If you can run
your program or Hypercard stack on a locked floppy, it will run on a CD.
To press a CD-ROM, you have two options; the easy way and the hard way.
The easy way gives you a Macintosh CD thatUs a copy of a hard disk. The
hard way gives you the Macintosh CD plus the ability to create audio CD
quality sound tracks, or to create a CD that can be used across many
operating systems in a format called High Sierra.
The easy way is to put your data onto a hard disk and send the hard disk
to one of the companies listed below (call before sending). They will
create an image copy of your hard disk (an exact duplicate) and put that
image onto CDs. Easy, quick and painless. To create such a CD, youUll be
charged a mastering charge (for creating the initial image) plus a
duplication charge per CD. The mastering charge varies, but is usually
under $1500. The duplication charge is around $1.85 per CD, including
packaging. The average turn-around time is 5 to 10 days.
If you want faster turn-around time, youUll pay additional money.
Typical mastering charges for one day turnaround starts under $3000. If
you want zillions and zillions of CDs, youUll pay less money. Any of the
production companies will be thrilled to hear from you.
The hard way of pressing a CD-ROM involves using a pre-mastering system
to create a tape that a pressing plant can use to create CDs. This
provides much more flexibility, since you control what goes on the tape.
You need much more technical knowledge, and you need access to a
pre-mastering facility. You can purchase a pre-mastering system; youUve
got names in the Apple CD-ROM Development Resource Guide. There are
companies that will rent you time on their pre-mastering system and help
you out with the details (for a fee).
If you want to press a CD that can be used on many different operating
systems, you want to use a volume format called High Sierra (also known
by the name of its international standard, ISO 9660). If you press a CD
in this format, you can read the data on many different operating systems.
YouUll need to plan your data carefully so that it can be used on many
machines; for example, many spreadsheets can read a common format, and
almost every word processor can read plain text. Hypercard uses a
proprietary format which can only be used on the Macintosh, so itUs
generally not a good choice for a High Sierra CD.
For a good overview of CD-ROM, read the AppleCD SC DeveloperUs Guide,
available from APDA. There is a magazine called CD-ROM EndUser,
available from DDRI, 510 N. Washington Street, Suite 401, Falls Church, VA
22046.
Some companies to contact regarding CD-ROM production (in no particular
order):
3M Optical Recording DADC
Building 223-5S-01 / 3M Center 1800 N. Fruitridge Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55144 Terre Haute, IN 47804
612/736-3274 812/462-8100
Mark Arps/Dick Tendill Linda Watson/Kozo Arai
AppleLink: D2462 AppleLink: D2125
Disctronics Philips Dupont Optical
1120 Cosby Way 1409 Foulk Road, Suite 200
Anaheim, CA 92806 Wilmington, DE 19803
714/630-6700 800/433-3475
Wan Seegmiller Jill Jones
AppleLink: D2173
Nimbus Information Systems Denon America
SR 629, Guildford Farm 222 New Road
Ruckersville, VA 22968 Parsippany, NJ 07054
800/782-0778 201/575-2532
Larry Boden Nob Tokutake/Ben Garcia
--Brian Bechtel blob@apple.com "My opinion, not Apple's"