When you have a great many CD’s or DVD’s to produce in one batch, you are far better off to do a bulk run for the finished product. A bulk run in replication mode means that the disc will be pressed from a glass master and that the artwork will be printed directly onto the surface of the disc. This method will give you a much better quality product, although is does require a little more time, due to the extra steps involved in preparing and creating the master and completing the printing on the surface of the disc.
The term bulk run can refer to a different amount of copies, depending upon the production studio. Some companies consider 50 to 200 copies a short run and handle the production differently. Others consider a bulk run to begin at 800 or more copies. Usually duplication is method chosen for short runs, while replication is preferred for bulk runs.
In this venue, bulk run doesn’t mean poor quality, but actually may be better quality since only one glass master has been prepared and all the run is prepared from the same master. In the case of the short runs, each disc is hand duplicated which allows for the possibility of errors and poor...