We're looking for a CD/DVD duplicator with a printer. What would you recommend?

Two companies that come to mind are Primera and Rimage. Both provide duplicating units that include inkjet printers for labeling printable disks. Their systems work with computers running Windows. The duplicator connects to the computer via USB or FireWire, sometimes both, then the CD/DVD drives in the duplicator become visible -- like any other external drive you might connect.

Using the software provided, you create the disk image by dragging and dropping files, somewhat as you burn a disk with Windows or most third-party disk-burning tools. Primera and Rimage units use slightly different robotics to handle disk duplication, but both automatically burn and print as many as 25 or 50 disks in a run, depending on their configuration. Unfortunately, older CD duplicators cannot be upgraded to DVD duplicators by replacing drives.

There are firmware differences between the CD- and DVD-burning versions that are not field-upgradeable.

Something to watch out for with both systems is the amount of ink you use per label. A full-color, full-size disk label can use up a set of ink cartridges in less than 100 disks.

For batch-duplication runs of more than 100 to 200 disks, it is less expensive to have the duplication done by a commercial vendor, but for runs of 50 to 100 disks, either system is a great improvement over duplicating disks on a desktop PC.

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