Barcodes are Essential for "Retail-Ready" Products

If your CD or DVD replication project is intended for retail use, a barcode is essential. A UPC barcode is the mechanism that is used to track sales and payout of royalties.

Even if you don't plan on selling your CD or DVD at major retail outlets, a barcode will give your product a look of legitimacy.

At PSI, we don't charge for UPC barcodes. Our barcodes are generated with our GS1 prefix and all barcodes are submitted to the Nielson/Soundscan database.

We can provide you with a barcode graphic that you can place into your artwork or our in-house design staff can do it for you.

To find out how to add a barcode to your next project, contact PSI toll free at 800-808-8273 or visit us online at www.psidiscs.com

“The Knows have it”: How to design artwork for a CD or DVD

When you are planning to design artwork for a CD or DVD there are a few things that you should know to ensure that the disc is printed correctly and you achieve the desired result. Being aware of the ins and outs of disc design will prevent headaches, delays and additional cost during the production process.

Know the challenges of printing on a disc
Many people assume that designing artwork for a CD or DVD is no different than designing for printed paper. However that is not the case. Printing on plastic presents unique challenges. It is important to know what is and is not possible when printing on a CD or DVD. Refer to the following design tips.

• Make sure the color mode is appropriate for the print method: Full color artwork should be provided in CMYK. PMS based artwork should be provided in a format that allows you to specify Pantone inks.
• If possible, create text in the vector format so it prints as clearly as possible. When possible, outline the fonts before final submission of the artwork.
• Try to avoid screens or transparency under 20%. Most screens or elements where transparency has been adjusted to 20% or below will appear very faint or will not show up on a disc.
• Do not use type smaller than 6pt.
• When using black on a full color disc, use a CMYK blend of black. Regular 100% black will actually look dark gray when printed in full color. It is best to use a CMYK blend called rich black. While there are many possible combinations for rich black, PSI suggests that you use c=40%, m=30%, y=30%, k=100%.

Know the Print Method
As part of the design process you should pre-determine how the disc will be printed. PSI offers many printing techniques for CDs and DVDs from black thermal, to Silkscreen, to full-color digital and full-color offset printing.

The print method used for your disc is primarily based on the artwork you supply. However, other factors to come into play such as the quantity of discs ordered, how quickly you need the discs and if the disc will be duplicated or replicated.

To ensure that your artwork will meet your expectations, it is suggested that you consult PSI early in your design process.

Know Your Boundaries
These days, you can print on practically the entire surface of a disc. However each replication company has its own set of printing specifications that dictate the print area on a CD and DVD.

You can view PSI’s print specifications and templates at www.psidiscs.com

Creating your artwork according to the correct specifications is important. Incorrectly sized artwork may have to be resized which may result in loss of quality. Also, altering the size will most likely change the positioning of your elements from what was originally intended.

Not only should you be aware of the printable area, but you should also understand the anatomy of a disc and how this may affect your artwork.

Know the Printable area:
PSI can seamlessly print over the entire main printable area, the mirror band, stacking ring and plastic hub. If you refer to the image above, you will see that each section of the disc looks different. The main printable area has a shiny metallic look. The mirror band has a darker metallic look. The stacking ring and plastic hub are clear plastic.

It is important to understand that artwork may appear darker on top of the mirror band and lighter on stacking ring and plastic hub. Although a white flood coat does help to minimize the changes to the color in these areas it does not stop it completely.

Know if you need a white flood coat:
A white flood coat provides a white surface on the disc that we can print on top of. Without a white flood coat, we would be printing on the metallic layer of the disc (and possibly the clear plastic of the stacking ring and hub). A white flood coat is always used on a full color digital or offset printed disc.

With silkscreen printing you have the option of using, or not using, a white flood coat. We usually suggest a white flood coat behind your artwork unless you plan on using the metallic look of the disc as a design element. Keep in mind that color will appear differently if it is not printed on a white flood coat so if there is any concern about how your artwork will turn out, it is best to go with a white flood.

Know when to ask for help:
A wise person once said, “I Am Smart Enough to Know I Don't Know It All”. This is a just a strange way of saying that if you are unsure about something, ask someone for help. We don’t know everything but we do know about printing on discs. So if you need help please give us a call! Toll Free: 800-808-8273


About PSI
Founded in 1986, PSI is Georgia’s largest optical disc manufacturer. With in-house, state-of-the-art manufacturing and printing technologies, and an expansive warehouse and distribution facility, PSI produces, packages and distributes millions of CDs and DVDs each month. In addition, PSI offers our high-quality, full-screen on-demand and live streaming video services through our world-wide content distribution network.

For more information on PSI, please visit www.psidiscs.com.

Custom USB Drives: Now available from PSI

Question: What weighs less than an ounce can be used as a key chain and stores thousands of photos?

Answer: A USB Flash Drive!

With storage capacities ranging from 64 MB, all the way up to 256 GB and prices starting as low as a few dollars per unit, USB Flash Drives represent the latest technology available for storing and transporting data.

PSI is now offering customized USB drives. There is almost no limit to the variety of shapes, styles and colors that are available. The best part is that a USB drive can be custom printed with your artwork, company logo, etc.

The drives are available without any content or we can preload them with almost any type of file. However we usually suggest file types that are easily opened by any type of computer and operating system (PDF, MP3, Mpeg, etc.)

What is a USB Flash Drive?
A USB Flash Drive (aka jump drive, thumb drive, keychain drive) is an easy to use, lightweight, plug and play storage device that is about the size of your thumb. It uses flash memory to store your data. The flash memory is integrated with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) interface enclosed in a compact plastic, metal or rubberized case. When a user plugs a USB flash drive into their computer, their operating system will recognize it as a storage device and automatically assign a drive letter to it.

Potential Uses

• Ad specialty item/giveaway: While many ad specialty items (pens, memo pads, stress balls) may be quickly discarded, the recipient of a USB drive will see it as a valuable gift. Most likely they will keep it and use it continuously. And every time they use it they will be reminded of your company.
• Tradeshows: When you are competing for marketshare at a tradeshow, your giveaway needs to stand out. Instead of printing your brochure, put it on a USB drive.
  
• Documentation and media distribution: Many companies and organizations distribute USB drives that are preloaded with documentation, training materials, mp3 files and video.
  
  

Advantages of USB Flash Drives

• Compact size: While the size can vary, most USB Flash drives weigh less than one ounce and are less than 70mm in height and 20 mm in width.
• Reliability: Data stored on flash drives are impervious to scratches and dust.
• Durability: Compared to hard drives, flash drives use little power and have no fragile moving parts.
• No software required: Flash drives implement the USB mass storage device class that so most operating systems can read and write to them without installing device drivers.
• Storage capacity: Flash drives have the ability to hold more data than 365 CDs or 54 DVDs.
• Speed: Flash drives can copy and write files up to 10 times faster than other traditional portable storage mediums.
  
  

Disadvantage of USB Flash Drives

• Compact size: Although the size may be an advantage, flash drives have become so compact that they can be easily misplaced or lost.
• Price: As the storage capacity of a Flash Drive approaches 50GB, they begin to exceed the price of an external hard drive of similar capacity. However, these prices will start to go down as the demand increases and the cost of manufacturing goes down.
• Lifespan: Flash drives have a limit to the number of write/erase cycles before they begin to fail. However, with most flash drives allowing for almost 500,000 write/erase cycles, you will most likely lose your device before it wears out.

About PSI
Founded in 1986, PSI is Georgia’s largest optical disc manufacturer. With in-house, state-of-the-art manufacturing and printing technologies, and an expansive warehouse and distribution facility, PSI produces, packages and distributes millions of CDs and DVDs each month. In addition, PSI offers our high-quality, full-screen on-demand and live streaming video services through our world-wide content distribution network.

For more information on PSI, please visit www.psidiscs.com.

Executive overhaul: Living the American dream

This is a reposting of an article that was published on examiner.com
To view the article on their webiste, click here

September 16, 3:45 AM
Atlanta Small Business ExaminerSam Dobrow

Dave Abrahamson spent much of his career inside corporate America rising through the ranks at Sprint and Bellsouth from internal audit to senior management; then one day the entrepreneur bug bit him. Dave had always wanted to experience the American dream by owning his own business so he set out to do just that. Dave identified key criteria for a business he wanted to own and started evaluating several small businesses. He drew on his background in accounting and internal audit to examine the financials of the business then he applied his experience in sales and marketing to assess the growth potential. Eventually, Dave found himself across the table from Jeff Lucas the owner of PSI, Georgia's largest manufacturer of digital optical discs. They both felt the synergy and crafted out a partnership that would propel the company forward, against the odds, in a troubled economy.

Thinking about themselves as a content fulfillment service, Dave and Jeff are embracing new technologies to broaden the PSI product offering. Dave is creating opportunities with the Internet where many of PSI's competitors see gloom. The naysayers believe the Internet will kill the market for physical media like CDs and DVDs. Dave sees synergy offering both electronic content distribution and physical media. "By offering our clients a comprehensive offering, we make it easier for them to reach their customer." With a background in telecom, Dave has negotiated a sweet deal to purchase reliable, high volume, content delivery capabilities from content distribution network (CDN) providers. PSI resells their CDN capacity in smaller packages. "PSI clients can now reach their customers with high quality content streaming that was previously only available to large businesses."

In addition to expanding services for customers, PSI has made some strategic acquisitions to bring graphic design services in-house to be more cost effective and price competitive. According to Dave, PSI will continue to grow by making some strategic acquisitions when it makes sense. Those acquisitions may involve creating a larger footprint, expanding geographically, or even doing more on the print side of the business.

As Dave looks to the future, he realizes that streaming media will be a growth segment of the business but it won't make discs obsolete. "There are so many "collectors" who want the media and associated art work." Another phenomenon that keeps the disc market going is the commuters who want digital media in places where they can't connect to the Internet. "Not many cars have the ability to play MP3s or access the Internet."

Another strategy implemented when Dave joined PSI was to hire a sales force rather than cut cost and wait out the recession. That strategy is working well. Sales from existing customers have fallen off due to the recession while sales from new customers have more than made up the difference as PSI continues to grow during the recession.

Dave says there is no 'typical' customer for PSI but many share a common need. "Typically the project is behind schedule. Manufacturing and fulfillment is at the end of the creative process and any delays are multiplied by the time we get involved. We love a challenge and strive very hard to deliver what our clients need. As a small business, we are nimble and can adjust quickly." Clients range from the individual artist to Fortune 50 corporations and advertising agencies. They may be in industries as diverse as entertainment, health care and faith-based organizations.

Dave understands developing relationships is the key to success; relationships with clients, suppliers and employees. "It is important to see employees as individuals, understand their individual situation, and allow them to take on as much as they can handle." This viewpoint evolved from Dave's personal experience working on a 2000 head hog farm in Iowa while he was attending college. "The owner let me do more than I thought I could possibly handle - he stretched me and taught me the value of hard work. I believe you have to give people the chance to fail and to succeed."

Dave also attributes his combined background in accounting with experience in sales and marketing as a key to success in small business. "It allows me to use the left and right side of my brain to come to a good decision. I can look at the finances to determine the break even point and whether something is economically sound and I can see the creative side of the opportunity."

Dave earned his degree in accounting from Iowa State and received his masters degree from the University of Kansas. He enjoys spending time with his family when he's not driving sales and new initiatives at PSI. Dave has been married for 26 years, has a daughter attending Mercer and two sons in high school. He is a sports fanatic and can often be found participating in a backyard volleyball tournament.

PSI was founded in 1986 by Jeff Lucas who started the business in audio duplication. PSI grew over the years to become a major player in audio/video duplication as technologies evolved from cassettes to VHS to CD/DVD discs and now the Internet. Learn more about PSI on the web at www.psidiscs.com

Story and photography by Sam Dobrow
www.samdobrowphotography.com

Posted using ShareThis

Check out our interview on High Velocity Radio

Yesterday, PSI's own David Abrahamson and Chris Coates joined Stone Peyton, Todd Schnick and producer Lee Kantor of High Velocity for a live interview at the RadioX studio.

During the interview Chris and David shared their insight on the role of Digital Media in today’s marketplace, the advantages of a CDN for delivering steaming media and why CDs and DVDs will be around for quite some time.

Click Here to Listen to the Interview

Using a Content Distribution Network (CDN) for video streaming and multimedia delivery can make your website run more efficiently

With the exponential growth of delivering video over the Internet, one of the most common questions that PSI receives is...

How do I improve the performance of both my web infrastructure and the quality of videos I deliver from my website?

First, you need to understand how best to utilize your web infrastructure. To maximize your web infrastructure, server resources (RAM and CPU) should be reserved for critical database operations and navigation of your web site. Utilization of these resources for the delivery of "heavy objects" (video, mp3 downloads, multimedia images and other large files) from your site will most likely cause problems for the end user. These problems include, slow response times, buffering of videos and in some cases the crashing of your entire server infrastructure.

This problem is most effectively and efficiently solved through the use of a Content Delivery Network. A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a system of computers networked together across the Internet that cooperate transparently to deliver content most often for the purpose of improving performance, scalability, and cost efficiency, to end users.
A CDN, such as the service offered by PSI, is purpose-built to handle large files, delivered over long distances to thousands of concurrent users. Videos, pdf’s, pictures, and other large files are directly loaded onto the CDN and delivered to the end user directly from the the edge, thereby bypassing your website’s server infrastructure entirely. This frees the server resources (Ram and CPU) for critical database operations. This also greatly enhances the performance and delivery of your “heavy objects” to the end user.

PSI is a clear technology leader in multi-platform IP services and content distribution. Our high-performance network was purpose-built in 2007 for a modern, high-change, media object hosting environment. Our network comprises:

• 23 Points of Presence (POPs) spanning two continents, including 23 network nodes and 7 content delivery nodes.
• An international backbone consisting of multiple redundant 10 Gbps links and nearly a Terabit per second of network capacity.
• A large private peering infrastructure, with 80-90 percent of traffic delivered directly to users through peering relationships.

A Powerful, Reliable Way to Move Content
PSI’s CDN enables users to distribute and manage many forms of content over our vast worldwide private network of interconnected servers and high-speed fiber-optic network connections.

We provide companies with powerful, continuous support for both static and rich-media content, including high-bandwidth multimedia content that has historically been difficult to deliver reliably over the public Internet. The network serves content in all leading industry formats - Windows Media Server, Adobe Flash Streaming Server, and HTTP downloads.


About PSI
Founded in 1986, PSI is Georgia’s largest optical disc manufacturer. With in-house, state-of-the-art manufacturing and printing technologies, and an expansive warehouse and distribution facility, PSI produces, packages and distributes millions of CDs and DVDs each month. In addition, PSI offers our high-quality, full-screen on-demand and live streaming video services through our world-wide content distribution network.

For more information on PSI, please visit www.psidiscs.com.

Quick Links: CD Replication | CD Duplication | DVD Replication | DVD Duplication | Distribution & Fulfillment | Streaming Media | Contact Us

Benefits of CDs and DVDs in Direct Marketing Campaigns

Have you ever wondered how you can dramatically improve the return on investment of your direct marketing efforts? One of the simplest and most effective methods is to communicate your message with a DVD or CD! With the cost of DVD and CD manufacturing declining over the past several years, and with new and innovative packaging solutions, you can improve your response rates by as much as 50%!
Benefits of mailing DVDs and CDs are summarized below:

• DVDs and CDs stand out over traditional direct mail, breaking through the clutter.
• Research has shown that when using a disc, firms have seen an average response rate of 5-12% -- 50-60% higher than printed material.
• Recipients have demonstrated to have a much higher recall rate (40-60% higher) than tradition print advertising.
• The cost of producing and mailing a disc are 10-40% less than traditional printed direct mail pieces.
• DVDs and CDs provide an enhanced level of communication through using menus, videos and audio to explain your product or service offering.
• DVDs and CDs are the only physical medium that can provide the added value of embedding links to your website for placing orders or accessing additional information.
• DVDs and CDs provide greater “perceived value” and recipients are more likely to play a disc than open a traditional direct mail piece.
• Discs have a high “pass-along” rate, in which the recipient shares the disc with others; unlike physical media which typically ends up in the recycling bin.

PSI, Inc – “The Digital Media Experts” can provide you with a complete turn-key direct marketing solution. From disc production, to innovative packaging solutions and fulfillment services.



About PSI
Founded in 1986, PSI is Georgia’s largest optical disc manufacturer. With in-house, state-of-the-art manufacturing and printing technologies, and an expansive warehouse and distribution facility, PSI produces, packages and distributes millions of CDs and DVDs each month. In addition, PSI offers our high-quality, full-screen on-demand and live streaming video services through our world-wide content distribution network.

For more information on PSI, please visit www.psidiscs.com.

Quick Links: CD Replication | CD Duplication | DVD Replication | DVD Duplication | Distribution & Fulfillment | Streaming Media | Contact Us