Composer copier gets speed boost

Making a copy of a data CD is a snap, right? But suppose your agency has a CD with project requirements and wants to give copies to 75 contractors? You could take the job to a duplicating service, but that probably wouldn't be cost-effective. On the other hand, you sure don't want to be the one assigned to making 75 copies at your desktop.

Primera Technology Inc. offers an alternative with its Composer Optical Disc Duplicator. With a list price of $2,495, Composer isn't inexpensive, but the time it saves may well justify its cost. In fact, Primera announced April 30 that Composer now writes CD-Rs at 16x speed. It previously shipped with a 12x drive.

Once you've installed the bundled SCSI card and software, burning multiple CDs is a snap. The unit's robotic arm plucks a CD from the input bin and drops it into the recorder. After the disc is burned, the arm retrieves the CD and drops it into the output bin. The unit can handle up to 50 discs in a single session. A DVD-Recordable version also is available.

For a few extra dollars, you can set up the system to automatically print labels on the CDs, using either Primera's Signature color ink-jet printer ($1,495) or the smaller Inscripta thermal printer ($2,995). The printer sits on a stand that aligns it properly so that the robotic arm can drop CDs in the right place for printing.