Hey all, i'm looking at releasing a CD.

I want to know where people buy blank cd jackets. Anyone if where you can buy blanks ones and print on them using your inkjet printer?

And jewel cases are not an option because they weigh a little bit extra and that will kill me on shipping overseas.

Any links?

Try www.oasiscd.com

You want a cardboard sleeve, or a plastic CD holder with a cardbordflap around it? For the latter, look for 'DigiPack', that's how they are officially called.

LOL you have to be joking be right?

They charge $1700 for three hundred cd jackets.......and that's one of their lower ranges. This must be a joke.

Anyone have suggestions for cd jackets that dont cost: $1700 for 300?


Also being able to put them through an inkjet printer would be a big bonus for me.

Bags Unlimited have these white cardboard sleeves.

http://www.bagsunlimited.com/cart/de...oduct_id=scdjw

I'm not sure if you can print on them though.

Ahh thanks, but i should have clarified, I'm looking for CD jackets.

You know, don't you, that those cardboard CD cases are generally printed on before they're assembled, right? It would be dificult to get something as thick as one of them into your inkjet printer at all. And they are then assembled by machines; the folding and the glue are not done by hand.

Besides that, the cardboard cases are more expensive than jewel boxes all the way around - I was going to have a project packed in them, but decided on Jewel boxes to save money. If you're sure that you want to print all of your CD covers yourself, why not go to the post office and find out how much the two different kinds of boxes would cost? In the US, it's the same price.

ReBinder has some great CD cases and CD sleeves that are recycled and FSC Certified. The best part is that you can just buy 50 at a time!

You are a bit ahead of me and my current project for me to REALLY give any advice here, but I am looking into the same sort of thing right now and will begin the assembly/ production in a couple weeks.

Ink jet probably won't work for reasons already mentioned. I am looking at silk screening onto cardboard CD cases as well as onto the face of a CD. I had discussed this same concept on here some time ago. It's a very old idea, really. Some friends of mine did it with a disc they produced last year, it looks great and they were able to save a bundle because it was a DIY project--which is where I am going with this.

I want to be able to hand the stuff out for free, so obviously I am trying to keep the price as low as possible. One color of ink, one screen for the print job,... and it's looking like I should be able to produce each disc for less than $1.00 which is where I want to be with it.

Some other friends of mine are getting in on the idea, but they are taking it further--getting a cardboard CD holder/ tray that has a fold, a sleeve for the CD and a sleeve for art work--they are making a poster to drop into the one slot and we are doing duotones for all the artwork which will permit us to stick with a total of three inks and just a few screens.

Anyway, to what you REALLY wanted to know... I had done some looking around for the cardboard CD holders and here are a few places I found:



Cardboard CD Sleeves
these folks have white/ off white sleeves out of heavy paper board—perfect for silk screening—at around .10 each in a large quantity.

Cardboard CD Sleeves, Cardboard DVD Sleeves, Cardboard Sleeves - Cardboard CD/DVD Sleeves
another white paper board option, slightly more expensive, but more choices.

CD Mini Jacket with no die cut - White
yet another choice—the best price of for these thus far—but the material its made from is not listed. They have black and white options as well as a die cut circle window (no plastic) option.

Eco-Friendly and Recycled CD & DVD Packaging | GrooveHouse
These folks have the brown, recycled paper type cardboard sleeves, as well as the four panel CD ‘wallets’. There are also 12” LP sleeves available. The prices on these are quite a bit more than the other stuff, but still well below $1.00 each.

Office Accessories
These people have the best price I found on the brown recycled stuff, plus they have a few different options. Four panel, two panel, …



Good luck!!!

A band that came through town not too long ago had a stamp made up with their cd design, and they stamped it onto cardboard sleeves. It actually looked pretty professional. I recently saw that one of the bigger cd manufacturers was now offering this exact set up as an option, including making the stamp. I can't remember who it was now, but if I find it again I will post it.

In the past, I have made cd sleeves from scratch. If you go to a professional printer they will put a "laminate" on it - not laminate in the terms of an id card that you're probably thinking, it's a coating professional printers put on things like postcard to make them glossy. There is a matte option also. This beefs up the strength of the paper.

I had them pre-scored for folding and then assembled them myself. Took forever, but it saved us a TON on costs and gave me something to do in the back of the van. We had the cd's pre-printed and just stuffed them in as jackets were completed.

Something else I saw recently that was nice that will work for you is clear plastic sleeves, and you stuff it with a folded sleeve that could be printed on your inket, cd goes into it. Have someone local like kinkos cut it to size, or buy a paper cutter from an office supply store. It looked pretty good, and from my experience, if people are buying the cd they will end up ripping it and losing the cd anyway, so I wouldn't bother spending too much on packaging beyond that.

I believe the OasisCD thing $1700 for 300 is for 300 CDs duplicated, printed on and packaged in the printed cardboard sleeves, not just for plain cardboard sleeves.

If you want to print the label for the cardboard sleeves with your ink jet printer, buy ink jet printable sticker paper, print however many will fit on one sheet (4? 6?) And cut them out and stick them on the cardboard sleeves.

I did a CD project that we put in a recycled 5x5 brown kraft envelope. We ran the envelope through an inkjet printer. It's not as heavy duty as cardboard, but it was a live show that we wanted to look like a bootleg.

www.envelopemall.com - Detail

I like the idea of a giant rubber stamp on a cardboard envelope. thumbsup

try Ironstone Technologies Winnipeg Canada 204-697-0159
It's in Canada and can ship too the U.S.
3.50 for digipaks any quantity (CD-R) tons of other packaging options for short runs.

Fellowes Neato. They make all manner of tray liners, CD inserts, and sleeves that you can print on your inkjet printer. I did a small run of CDs for my son-in-law last Christmas,and the Neato stuff worked just fine. The sleeves have glue strips on the edges that you uncover and stick down after you print them.

You can get a variety pack that comes with the MediaFace software to design your cover.It's kind of a pain to use until you get used to it, but I've used it for two full CD projects and several smaller jobs.

Might be just what the medicine man ordered.

I can do 1,000 CD's
2 panel 5X5 Cardboard sleeve
Offset Printed for photo quality on disk face
Full color print on both sides of the sleeve
and wrapped in cellophane and retail ready for $780
CD Replication

Try CD Duplication They offer small quantities of what I think you want?

I bought blank cd jackets from Uline. Then I have a friend who is a printer print me stickers for the front and back. If this recording doesn't sell I'll recycle the unused stock of jackets with new stickers. Not as elegant, but I'm into each cd about $1.00 by the time I'm done. Might actually make some money.

You won't be able to get it to look good with an inkjet printer. You'll need a laser printer with at least 300 DPI, or it will just look blurred or blotchy. Also those cardboard jackets have to be printed on before they are folded, glued, and packaged. You could try using plastic jewel cases and printing elsewhere, that's really the only DIY method I'm aware of (or like scrondle, try stickers?). Sadly CD production is an area where the amount of money you put into its shows.

What my band does to make our own CD's, we used a jacket template from discmakers' website, and then went to the local staples, officemax, kinko's, etc, and print there (we bought our own gloss paper, it was cheaper). We then have to cut and place the papers ourselves. It's really annoying work, but the cheapest way if you just want 20 CDs. And they look pretty good. It comes out to about $1.50 per CD with all materials, and that's the cheapest I know of for non-bulk ordering. They look pretty pro http://i.imgur.com/RewfH.jpg

Also noticed that if you search eBay for:

Custom Printed CD / DVD Cardboard Sleeves / Disc Jackets

you can find several small quantities at fairly decent prices.

This seems to be an old post but for what's worth I've used Buskerdoo for several projects. They have very low prices and great products. They have blank/white sleeves and wallets and they can do short runs of printed cd sleeves and wallets. They also do short run duplication.

Hope this helps.

This place does short runs and reasonable prices. I know this is an old thread, but I have to disagree with Dave Martin, if you're going to sell your cd's to the public and or ship them, one thing you want to avoid is breakage, jewel cases break digipaks do not. So if you have a distributor or someone is warehousing for you or you ship a box to amazon and you don't want returns digipaks are cheaper in the long run.

I got some cases from rebinder.com

My wife made a linoleum stamp.

Looks pretty lo-fi/diy, but we're a dirty bunch of men.

Came out nice, I think.

Depends how many you expect to make. Up to about 500 or 1000 you can make the cases yourself, print them and fold them. They do not have to look like ordinary digipacks or other people's cases, especially if you sell them at the gigs. Design your own packs, I do. I have about 25 or more cds out, all bar two are handmade, so are some of my collabs. They are all different. Some lino cuts, some woodcuts, some computer printed, one handmade paper made in Nepal with bamboo trims, silk one made in Thailand - these two organized through a local shop, now sadly gone.
Bunch of them looks great on a merch table at gigs and sell ok.
Do not be frightened by the drudgery of folding 500 covers, you do not have to do them all at once, and it can be quite fun, put some music on and print away...

Good luck, and sell a lot! (and make people happy)
Happy New Year

Groovehouse just finished a package for me that came out very nice - 100 cds burned and printed with sleeves and shrinkwrap, shipping included came to - $350. Got the completed discs in a week. I wouldn't want the hassle of doing all that myself - the costs for the resources would pile up and cost me time, time, time. Somethings are truly worth paying for.

Bags Unlimited Collection Protection Store

This seems like a great resource!

Take another toke and a third Z, Mr. clever.

I come up with a very reasonable and reliable source for all my friends regarding CD jackets printing, or all kind of custom printing products. Try them for once atleast and get rates of your required printing product. They'll not make you disappoint as they didn't make me. Very competitive rates for quality CD jackets. As they are offering 500 2 Panel Cd Jackets Card material for $195, includes delivery and no handling charges at all.