Using iTunes for CD booklet replacement


We use iTunes to print out replacement cover art and song lists for CD inserts.

Obviously, it saves time to have the CD's already ripped and the artwork downloaded from the web. We send the jobs to a HP 3500 color laser printer using a heavier, almost card stock weight, paper. I haven't found the perfect stock yet. What's nice about printing replacement inserts from iTunes is that it provides guides for cutting the sheet and a dotted line for folding. Replacing the artwork on the backside of a CD is not as easy. Usually, I either print out a duplicate of the front insert and cut it down to size, or else just print it out on a plain white background. I will use plain paper for the backs.

A point to remember: when downloading cover art, go for the largest JPG you can get. Even so, it looks like iTunes backs off on the resolution for printing. Anything more than a cursory glance, and it's easy to tell it's a reproduction. Depending on the title, I usually use Amazon's artwork, but I have to go out to Google pretty often and hunt down a larger image. If I can't find anything, I sometimes whip something up, by grabbing a large picture of something or someone related to the CD, paste it into Elements, layer some text over it and then export it as JPG for insertion into iTunes. I made a one for a children's Peter Rabbit CD that must have come as a bonus disc in the back of a book, but we circ it separately now since we lost the book, I guess. I shrank it for this page. Usually I keep them around 400 x 400 px:


Posted: Wed - March 23, 2005 at 11:22 AM      

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