Programs and Formats to Avoid

Here is a list of programs that you should NOT use:

CDman Does Not Support "Photoshop" submitted as final layouts.
PSD files are supposed to be linked or embedded to Illustrator to form a complete 'rippable' file. Photoshop is not considered a final page layout format and does not conform to standard preflight operations.  While we *can* accept them in a pinch, additional charges may apply to your order so that we can export PSD files into a workable format.

CDman Does Not Support "Pagemaker"
We do not accept Pagemaker files due to a lack of updates and support from Adobe. Illustrator should be used.

CDman Does Not Support "Freehand"
Freehand is an excellent, feature rich page layout program but we do not use this program in our design center. Any freehand files submitted should be recent versions. Sorry but we do not have templates yet for freehand users. Freehand users are asked to submit press ready PDF files.

Please do not disguise your file as Illustrator using Freehand's "save as" option. Freehand users are asked to submit press ready PDF files.

CDman No Longer Supports "CorelDraw"
CorelDraw is a very useful program for designing line/vector art but that's where our recommendation for it's use stops. We used to support this program until we started getting complaints with the quality of the end product. Effects such as drop shadows and transparencies print very poorly, stray (c) copyright and (p) publishing marks would disappear, unexplained color shift between PDF proofing and film output would occur. The list is lengthy. We just can not guarantee the outcome of this gnarly beast so we dropped it.

Corel users are asked to submit press ready PDF files, but be very careful about the output settings.

What about "out of the box" CD label programs?
We are unable to support consumer grade CD design programs such as CD Stomper, EX CD Creator, etc. -Enough said.

Image Formats : JPG, GIF , PNG, EPS
When someone sends you any of the above image formats, they are usually rendered for a web page utilizing teeny pixels. The DPI (dots per inch) when translated to the real physical world are usually 72 dpi. This can spell disaster and amateur looking layouts.  The only way to avoid issues when using 72 DPI images is to have them scaled 400% of their destination size.  ie:  An image covering the entire 5" x 5" CD jacket would have to be 20" x 20" and then shrunk down using the scale tool to 1/4 its original size.  72 x 4 = 288 effective DPI which is passable. 

JPGs use color compression to remove colors so avoid JPGs unless the quality is set to 100% maximum (no compression) 

A better solution is to use TIF files which avoid compression and scale to 1:1 the real world size.  

EPS images are really to transfer images and vector text together in a single package. EPS files are useless when its just a bitmap image without text.  EPS files can be used when dealing with PMS spot colors so this format is only for experienced designers.