cd burning tower

i was wondering on how to mass produce some cds for my dad, as he works in our church and needs a way to duplicate the weekly sermons onto audio cds (they're upgrading from cassette tapes). i didn't know about how to exactly approach this problem, and i looked around and found this...

http://www.directron.com/cfd557u2w.html

if i bought this case, could i just hook it up to a computer, and then run a burning program to send the same image to all the drives at once, allowing 9 copies of the same cd to be made at the same time? also, is it possible to build one of these towers on my own, by taking a case and just sticking multiple scsi cdrw drives into it and connecting them to a scsi card/adapter inside?

this was the only way i could think up on how to make more than 1 copy of a cd at a time...if there is a better (and more economical) way to do this, please tell. thanks

 

You could pruchase a cheap system, with additional ide channels on it (or buy another IDE controller card) and hook up a whole bunch of cheap burners to it, and use NERO burning ROM and specify to use more than one buring device. A much cheaper alternative

 

Hi conee

Have no direct experience in tasks your undertaking. My first observation would center in two areas.... how many CD's required weekly and long term responsibility to the duplication task. Since you were looking at a 9 bay tower, I assume your weekly needs are sizable. The next would be simplicity in the duplication task. Most churches rely on donated labor that can change frequently. A "stand-alone" tower could provide a automated process with the simplicity of pushing a button. The heart of the duplicator is a 1-to-7 CD Copy Controller, such as the one found here (see compatible CD drives, same page). See Price Watch for costing - 2nd from bottom of page. Your nine bay tower would consist of (1) CD player, (1) above copy controller card and (7) CD burners. Ask members of the church if they could suggest a local business, individual for technical assistance. The project appears to be mostly plug and go components. The tower could be home made, salvaged from an old PC. The simplest would be buying an appropriate bare tower and plug in the above components. Once you capture, burn the weekly original source CD, the duplication process could be managed by most members of the church. The CD drives are required no matter what configuration you choose. The Stand-Alone box (bare) and controller card will add about $400 to that cost.

 

thanks for the replies, i decided to go with calculus' idea, as i have an older (but not obselete) computer lying around that i can use for this, and because i didn't know nero could use multiple burners at the same time (i only have one so i cant test it). i guess you learn something new every day.

 

Hi conee

I may be mistaken, but when I researched Nero for simultaneous burning, there were some limitations. Not sure for older versions of Nero, but the newest version Nero 6 ($100.00) is limited to 4 burners. To get upto 7 simultaneous burns , required an additional $249.00 software purchase. System requirements are not demanding, but should be checked. With the additional software cost, the wiring nighmare hooking up 8x CD drives for power and signal and have that all tethered to the old computer sounds like a robust project to build, store, and operate. The push button Stand Alone is compact, no brain-er operation. It is brand new dedicated equipment offering high volume capacity. The difference in cost of the two approaches is about $150-$250.00.

 

Ready built towers are availabe. Do a search for cd duplicators. But depending upon how many discs you need a week, you may be better off just sending the whole shebang out to a duplicating service. Discs do cost money!

 

ok...looked over stuff again, dennis. am beginning to think that the cd copier is a better idea, but from the looks of it the only thing that i get when i buy that thing is the controller right? im assuming i don't get a case with that thing...anyway, if i don't get a case with it, it takes up one 5.25 drive slot right? so i would have to find a case with, say, 9 5.25 drive bays. since the website doesn't produce much documentation, am i correct in saying that the only thing needed if i buy that thing is 8 cd burners, a power supply, and a case? also, if i were to buy a powersupply to run all these, what wattage should i go for? 400? 500? thanks

 

Hi conee

Give me a day to see what I can find. Also did you take some time to follow up on "RayH" suggestion. It is something that should be look into for weekly/overall cost. If you decide to component build your own I hope you follow my previous suggestion... ask members of the church if they could suggest a local business, individual for technical assistance. Reputable local computer shops would be glad to lend a helping hand to a local church... it could lead to many new sales when they do the job right. Having local hardware support is always an advantage. Even if you decide to buy a ready built unit like this one, purchased through the local dealer gives you more security. Since very few of us have "hands on experience" in building, using a CD duplicator, it will require some research and discussion.

UPDATE 11:20pm _______________________________

Check out this How To Choose A CD Duplicator: A Buying Guide. Don't use your primary email address, but I'm sure you will get some good basic information to begin your research. You can also get some ideas, by clicking on items on left side of this page.

 

Good Find

I am the music director at a church and did a lot of research on this. We had a limited budget so I needed to find the most efficient solution, with good quality. I bought a 7-1 (7 copy drives with one master drive) stand alone duplicator for $750. The drives are Sony and operate at 52x speed, take any media, and is very easy to use. You simply load the master CD, then load the other drives with blanks and it starts, tests, and displays results for you. It does have computer interface if you need it, but we use it as a stand alone. Because I already sound like a commercial for the product which I do not sell, I would prefer to give you the source by email. We have had it for about 4 months now, use it regularly and it has been the best!

 

Hi NC Music

Glad you chimed in.... was hoping other churches with similar needs would be helping out. A 7-1 duplicator for $750.00 is certainly a good find. The best I could find with 52x was $899.00. Boys and toys are curious in how many CD's you can burn in a hour? With seven 52x burners, can you hit 80+ CD burns per hour?

 

Burn Time

Obviously it depends on how much is on the CD as to whether or not we hit 80+ CDs. Most of the time the CD is 45-60 minutes, and at that capacity I can do easily 80+ per hour. There is very little run-up time, and the CD drawers pop open when complete, so it is very quick turn-over.