Bee-hives in Software

Drawer Data Matrix 2d barcode in Software Bee-hives

A bee-hive is a small spindle package with a rigid plastic cover that is held on with a screw-on nut These packages got their name because they look a little bit like the attened cones used to cultivate honey bees Beehives usually hold 50 or 100 blank discs, and are a moderately inexpensive way to buy and store bulk media

Sometimes blank media is simply wrapped in heavy plastic and shipped with no other packaging While this is an inexpensive way to receive media, it does present some hazards since it is possible for the discs to shift and scratch one another during shipment and handling Spindles or bee-hives provide more protection from such hazards, and are easier to store

CD duplicators can be classi ed into the following groups: Disc copiers are the most basic units; they are generally standalone devices designed to simply make multiple copies from a single prerecorded disc Tower duplicators combine several manually loaded recorders in a single cabinet, allowing multiple copies to be produced very quickly Automated duplicators employ robotics to move media from spindles to recorders and, sometimes, to printers These units provide the most publishing versatility, but they are also the most expensive devices

Duplicators could be categorized as either using embedded controllers or open systems In general, embedded controls allow great simplicity of use, but using open systems gives manufacturers the chance to include many extensions to a system s capabilities, such as the ability to record to different formats or to add printers or disc analyzers This is the usual trade-off between ease of use or powerful features Any of the classi cations we use in this chapter could be subdivided into embedded controls or open systems If open systems are chosen, standard printing, premastering, and so on, can be added, but the operator then must be a more sophisticated (and higher paid) computer user, not simply a copy machine attendant Examples of our three original classi cations of duplicators appear in the following sections

8

The copier class of duplicator is usually found in standalone con gurations No external computer is required for standalone copiers, and operation is usually very simple, sometimes with only a start button Anyone in an organization can be quickly trained to operate this type of equipment, which makes it very practical for casual, on-demand duplication Most disc copiers, like other classes of disc duplicators, are advertised as being able to successfully copy almost any compact disc format Frequently, disc copiers do not have mastering capabilities This means that a separate recorder must be available to create original content discs, since only pre-encoded discs can be duplicated Since they usually do not offer many sophisticated features, can copy only a few discs at a time, and require hand-loading, disc copiers are usually at the low end of the duplicator price scale Used to duplicate relatively small numbers of discs at a time, these devices are sometimes described as being an appliance since one simply pops in blank media and a disc to be copied, pushes a button, and when the process is nished, out comes the completed product It s just like using a breakfast toaster, except that there are no crumbs For small businesses and workgroups who occasionally run multiple copies of a CD-ROM, musicians who want to produce audio CD demo discs for distribution, or even hobbyists who need inexpensive, easy-to-use disc copying capabilities, these machines can be exactly right

One of the rst companies to see the potential for desktop disc copying was Alea Systems of Italy Now based in California as well as in Milan, Alea was showing a version of their single disc copiers as early as 1993 A very simple but effective design from Alea Systems is called the Model 121 This external standalone copier is nothing more than a box with two drives a CD-ROM reader, and a CD-Recorder with a start button and an activity indicator Put a disc to be copied in the reader and a blank disc in the recorder, push Start and a few moments later your disc is copied