September 25, 2007 – Since the beginning of time, man has had a desire not only to learn, but also to spread his knowledge across the land. From monks making copies of sacred texts, to the Gutenberg press, to the telegraph and the telephone, and the fax machine and the modem, history is filled with innovations that allow for faster and more widespread communication. With the rise of the computer age, the need to produce duplicate copies of information has grown tremendously. In this day and age almost any kind of information can be stored on a disc - from audio, to software, to photos, to a DVD video. Standing on the cutting edge of these technologies is US Digital Media and its line of Accutower CD/DVD duplicator machines.
In the past, volume duplication was available only to companies with large capital resources. Floppy disk duplicators of the 1980's and 1990's were cumbersome and often required the help of a skilled technician. A major advantage was the speed with which disks could be duplicated, due to the limited storage capacity of a floppy disk. Things changed dramatically with the adoption of the compact disc in the 1990's. Boasting a greater data capacity, the flexibility to store both audio and data, and durability beyond 3.5-inch diskettes, the compact disc was a hit with consumers and with manufacturers.
A CD-RW burner on your home computer allows anyone to become a distributor of digital content. Whether it was copies of wedding photos for everyone who attended, or an upstart software company working on a shoestring budget, CD burner drives made it possible to create virtually unlimited copies. The industry took off and it was not long before the burn speed had more than doubled. The cost of blank discs fell as the burn speeds increased. CD burning quickly became a part of our language, our business, and our lives.
Indeed it was the compact disc that paved the way for the explosive growth of DVD. With a capacity about six times more than a CD, DVD was the answer to the growing demand for reliable, low cost data storage. Companies and individuals seeking to make hundreds or thousands of discs have turned to stand-alone CD/DVD duplicators such as the Accutower. These advanced machines often include internal hard drives and have earned a reputation for endurance as well as quality. Additionally, the development of newer technologies such as HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc has driven the cost of do-it-yourself duplication equipment down even further.
A CD/DVD duplicator has little if anything in common with a printing press or a fax machine, except for its underlying purpose to produce quality duplicates of information. In this light, CD duplicators are kind of like the rearview mirror showing you where you have been as you are speeding towards the duplication technologies of the future.
