Recording music professionally used to mean loading in a bunch of analog open reel 2 inch tape. The main manufacturers Ampex (Quantegy), 3M and BASF (Emtec...now RMGI) all had great products with enough differences that a band or engineer could choose the right tape for their session. 3M jumped ship first as the demand for analog tape grew smaller. Emtec shut down their production and finally Quantegy closed their doors leaving the tape purists in a tough situation. When Quantegy reorganized and started production again back in 2005 things looked good. RMG International came along with the great BASF/Emtec formulations and the market looked even better. It's hard to believe there is one tape maker currently around supplying product now that Quantegy shut down the tape lines again. RMGI tape is meeting demand for those who like analog recording. It has been a crazy road for sure getting product back out there but from what we can tell the demand is still strong, just not as huge. Hopefully ATR Magnetics will have their product available soon as well. It might be a digital world but Long Live Analog!

I get amazed by how many genres of music are out there now. The electronic music world is a great example: House, Deep House, Trance, Psy-Trance, Techno, Drums & Bass, etc. I'm glad there in not a test on these...

There is a company in Denver called Beatport  that has done an excellent job compiling a huge selection of music for DJs, clubs and anyone interested in electronic music.

You can kill a few hours just sampling the tracks and there is a good chance you end up filling your crate before leaving their site.

This ad has been on my office wall for quite awhile.  I found it back in the mid 1990's when going through some papers in the warehouse; it came from my old friend Bill Pugliese who used to own B&L Sales, Inc. in North Hollywood, CA.

The complete system could be purchased for $3499.00; blank 8-track cartridges were additional.  The manufacturer Make a Tape, Inc. was out of Fraser, MI and it looks like they were set up to sell through distribution.   I have no idea how well these sold...I just like the great graphics on the ad. 

 The brochure I have is from 1972; blank 8-track tapes sold for $3.50 and you spent another 50 cents to make the copy.  It looks like a pretty nice profit margin...

Archival Gold media has become a very popular storage choice for many of our clients.  Prices for CD-R, DVD-R and DVD+R discs can vary widely depending on the brand and type of media.  Thanks to Lora Swenson of MAM-A for her input!

 1. Gold media is priced higher than most of the standard grade media on the market...why should someone go with a gold disc?

Gold media will last longer than silver.  A Gold reflective layer won't corrode over time but this is possible with non gold media.  MAM-A has a Silver vs. Gold page which answers many of the common questions.

 2. DVD-R or DVD+R...is either format better than the other?

We hear from MAM-A that both formats are essentially equal.  There are some who favor the minus R and others the Plus R; based solely on our sales the DVD-R format is more popular.  Here is more information on DVD-R and DVD+R formats.

 3. What are the ideal record speeds for gold media?

Lora told us:  "Our gold DVD-Rs are indicated to write at a top speed of 8X, but we think 4X is ideal.  Since gold is not as reflective of a metal as compared to silver, the dark organic dye used for all recordable DVDs does not allow for  good performance at 16X.   Gold CD-Rs are made with Mitsui's patented Phthalocyanine dye, which is translucent, therefore allows the gold reflective metal layer to perform at top speeds of 52X."

Visit our Gold CD-R, DVD-R and DVD+R pages for complete product information.

Microboards has a publishing solution for bands, churches or any organization that needs an easy-to-use machine to burn and print CD and DVD discs.

From Microboards site:

Four Easy Steps to Creating Professional, Finished Discs

1. Design your label. Use included templates for easy design or import from Photoshop®.

2. Choose your recording files. Make audio discs, burn multimedia content, distribute software, or archive data.

3. Set the quantity desired. Also access advanced features through the intuitive software interface.

4. Walk away! Let the 50-disc input, reliable robotics, integrated inkjet printer, and high-speed recorder do the rest!

Words and pictures are great but to see the machine in action watch the video.

The GX-1 is compatible with PC and Mac.  For more product info please visit our GX-1 page. 

Avastor hard drives are favorites of Encore Data Products pro A/V customers.  The company has become a global supplier for people recording music, editing for film and more. 

I spoke with Avastor, Inc. co-founder Richard Wilson the other day about their company...here is what I found out:

1. What is your background that led you to start a pro A/V drive company?
I started way back in 1979 working for Texas Instruments (in the oil exploration business), using mainframe computers and one inch and half inch computer tape!   In 1987 I joined 3M handling the UK pro audio/video tape business.   Hard drives are now the new tape-certainly for audio.   It was time to produce a hard drive product designed for professional applications.

2. What are the biggest changes you've seen in the last 5 years in music recording?
The smaller demand for analog tape and the move to affordable digital workstations that are easy to use.

3. Any predictions on the next 5 years?
Higher sampling rates and bit depth to provide content for DVD-HD and Blu-Ray DVD.

4. Why go with Avastor over a drive you can find on the shelf of your  local computer big box store?
As stated previously, it was time to introduce a robust external hard drive, which could handle the rigors of editing- as well as stream large track counts of high resolution audio and video.  All our drives are 100% speed tested, fan cooled and come in a robust LockBox – ideal for shipping and storing.  Consumer drives simply do not offer this protection and performance for your valuable masters.

5. Any new products on the horizon?
We have some new RAID products – as well as other storage solutions coming.

Encore Data Products is offering a FREE Avastor T-Shirt with every Avastor drive order...while supplies last. 

In our corner of the world blank recordable Blu-ray discs outsell HD-DVD. There are more brand choices and greater capacities; you can fit quite a bit on a 50GB disc.  Both camps have strong supporters so time will tell how each will do.

Articles about the two formats often bring up the old "VHS vs. Beta" comparison.  CNET has a Blu-ray, HD-DVD and DVD comparison page which is a good source for the basics.  Other information sources include the Official HD-DVD site and The Blu-ray Disc Association.  

There was an announcement this week about a Blu-ray format change that will affect the early adopters of the format.  Earlier machines won't be able to use additional features that will be found on upcoming releases.

For users of blank recordable media upcoming products include printable discs; we have heard Imation and TDK have released product but our suppliers do not have anything available yet.  We just added two Blu-ray Pro duplication systems by Microboards Technology; for specs click here.

For our blog visitors: We are running a store-wide 10% off sale!  Save 10% on any IN STOCK item  order over $150.  Use coupon code 2DAY10 when checking out.  As always ground shipping is free to the lower 48...

Save big on gold media, tape, drives and more.  Coupon expires at midnight April 10th. 

Thanks for visiting our blog...check back for upcoming product reviews, news and customer spotlights.   

I want to mention a favorite music magazine of mine:  Tape Op magazine.  For those of you who are not familiar with it definitely check it out.  There are always excellent articles on recording, studios, gear and people in the music business.  As a person who has played in bands over the years but never studied the fine points of recording I can still enjoy reading about how a certain band/producer/engineer managed to come up with a certain sound.  It is a print magazine but there are many more articles, resources and even a message board on their website.

We run a small ad in Tape Op for our RMGI analog tape, Avastor and Glyph hard drives since a lot of our clients are the folks who record music for a living.  I'm sure the mag appeals to music fans as well since well-known artists and producers are often featured.  Making an "album" can be a pretty involved process so naturally some great stories are created along with the music.  

Odds are if you are involved with music you already subscribe to Tape Op...if not it is time to start reading.  

Since Encore Data Products does most business online our web store had to work well, be user-friendly, have a decent look and most importantly leave customers wanting to return.   we shopped around prior to partnering with a firm to build our online store in 2006.  After checking out various store software versions and companies who created stores we ended up going with Ryan Design Studio.

 The result exceeded our expectations and the store looks great.  I spoke with Padraic Ryan, founder of Ryan Design Studio, to get a little information on their company and find out what makes them successful:

 Tell us a little about Ryan Design Studio 

 I formed Ryan Design Studio back in 2003 as an Architecture and Web Development firm. Architecture and Web Design may sound like two totally unrelated fields, but from a design perspective they are essentially the same thing: solving a problem using design. While the housing market slowed here in the Northeast, the e-commerce market was growing at an exponential rate, so we decided to drop Architecture all together and focus solely on e-commerce and other web development projects.

 Originally Ryan Design Studio was only myself, but I now have two graphic designers and two programmers who I partner with on most projects. This not only keeps our designs fresh and different, but also allows me to give our clients the one on one support that they have grown accustomed to.

Why did you end up focusing on X-Cart store software over some other choices?

 When we were developing our first e-commerce store back in the early 90s, we had to essentially build our own shopping cart system using a programming language called CGI. Over the years, there have been more and more companies who offer pre-made systems, and we have tried most of them. We finally settled on X-Cart mainly due to their extremely flexible system and the extensive development community that has grown up around it. There are literally hundreds of add-on modules available, and most importantly, the code allows us to integrate any look we want into the template system. We have found it to be a great platform.

Does your company offer services other than X-Cart design?

We originally offered Architectural services as well as web development, but have since dropped our Architectural practice. We specialize mainly in e-commerce sites built with X-Cart, but also build 'brochure' type sites for businesses who are just looking for a web presence or on-line portfolio of projects. We also run our own hosting service that is geared primarily for our X-Cart clients.

If you are looking for a company to get your business online we recommend Ryan Design Studio; for more information you can contact them here.   

Prior to starting Encore Data Products I used to co-own a tape supply company in Burbank, CA. The company started out as a 3M distributor moving a lot of 3M 996 open reel tape. Soon after Ampex signed us up and then BASF. A decent-sized recording project would use 20-50 reels of 2"  tape and often more. Since tape is now about $225 per reel of 2" x 2500' I dug back to see what it cost about 10 years ago....somewhere in the neighborhood of $125 depending on which version you went with. While researching I found a studio price sheet for Mitch Easter's Drive-In Recording Studio from 1980.  Tape at that studio in 1980 was $110 per reel.  Costs have doubled but since demand has dropped considerably I guess $225 is not too bad for "that great analog sound".

Mitch Easter is one of those great musician/producer/engineer guys who fronted an excellent band Lets Active.

One of the best shows I've ever seen was at the late, great 688 club in Atlanta, GA that Let's Active headlined.  After not letting anyone in until very late due to sound check issues (if I remember correctly) we finally saw them go on about 1 in the morning.  Definitely worth the wait.

I have never met Mitch but he always seemed like the kind of person you would want to be in a band with.  He has a new CD out now you can order here. 

One of the newer tape storage options on the market is Sun StorageTek T10000 (T10K) tape. With an uncompressed capacity of 500GB this format is very popular with large data centers who require a reliable, fast and high capacity tape media.  Product specs can be seen on the StorageTek site.

From the Sun/Storagetek site:  "The Sun StorageTek™ T10000 tape cartridge, which works in tandem with the Sun StorageTek T10000 tape drive, addresses issues related to data growth, security, manageability, and cost. With 500-gigabyte capacity, the T10000 tape cartridge stores more data in the same footprint. And with 2:1 compression, it can store up to one terabyte of data to help you meet growing data storage requirements. Ultra-high capacity makes the T10000 tape cartridge ideal for high-volume backup, archiving, and disaster recovery applications.

The T10000 tape cartridge also increases data security with the Sun StorageTek T10000 SafeGuide™ system, in which a unique hub lock stabilizes media within the cartridge shell."

Please call us at 866-926-1669 or email us at sales@encoredaproducts.com if you would like more information or would like to discuss volume pricing. 

It looks like Imation is acquiring TDK's global recording media business. From what I have read there will still be TDK branded product on the market but it will now be manufactured by Imation.

TDK still makes audio products as well as data media; it will be interesting to see if all the lines make the final cut. 

I wanted to let everyone know we just started an INCREDIBLE promotion on our top-selling Gold media products. We picked one item from our 3 categories: Gold CD-R, Gold DVD-R and Gold DVD+R discs. Our prices are always competitive but now you can save an extra 10% on these items when your total is $150 or more. As always ground shipping is free so your savings can be huge.

MAM-A Mitsui is the industry leader in gold archival media.  With DVD media having a life expectancy of 100+ years and the CD-R 300+ years gold is the way to go for your long-term storage projects.

Professional photographers, government agencies, hospitals and more use MAM-A gold media for their critical storage applications.  

MAM-A offers multiple pages of information on manufacturing processes, technical reports and more at www.mam-a.com .

I have spoken with a lot of people this week wondering about their Glyph drives. I'm very happy to report we have product moving out again; all the Glyph GT Series 051, 050 Quad, and 062 RAID drives are shipping. The only back orders we currently face are for the GT keys...this has been a tough one over the past few months.  It looks like in a month all product lines will be at 100%.  The staff at Glyph are all working hard to keep us "in stock".  

Glyph is currently offering a wide selection of hard drive storage for professional A/V users.  The new GT062 series is a dual drive product which supports RAID 0 and has FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports.  For you eSATA customers the GT 050Q Quad series offers FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 AND eSATA ports.  Capacity goes up to 750GB.

 New Glyph products for us this week include a pro CD/DVD Burner and a 1-to-1 media duplicator.  Please give us a call  (866-926-1669) if you would like to discuss your upcoming hard drive needs. 

The Encore Data Products blog is still very new and very much a spec in the world of blogs.  My goal is to provide some useful information to our readers and generate some interest in the company from people who might not know about us.  Here are some basics on the company:

Brands we sell:  Altec Lansing, Avastor, Buffalo Technology, Certance, Delkin Devices, Emtec, Exabyte, Fuji Film, Glyph, G-Tech, HP, IBM, Imation, Iomega, Kodak, Lacie, MAM-A Mitsui, M Audio, Maxell, Maxoptix, Maxtor, Memorex, Microboards Technology, Neat Receipts, Panasonic, Permastore Turtle Case, Philips, Pioneer, Plasmon, Primera, ProAvio, Quantum, Rimage, RMG, Samsung, Sandisk, Sennheiser, Sling Media, Sony, Sun Storagetek, Taiyo Yuden, Tandberg Data, TDK, TEAC, Telex, Toshiba, Verbatim, Western Digital and Xerox.  I think that is everybody...

Our products include:  Archival gold CD-R DVD-R DVD+R,  hard drives, medical grade media, LTO, DLT, AIT, T10K tape, storage, pro audio, blu-ray, HD DVD, data tape, DVD media, CD-R to name a few. 

Our Customers cover a variety of markets.  The pro audio & video folks use us for hard drives, media and RMG analog open reel tape.  Hospitals and medical offices need archival media, medical grade discs and backup tape.  We just added the TDK Medical line of DICOM Media Creator Systems. 

Everybody these days uses some sort of backup computer media.  our professional photography clients love the gold archival CD & DVD discs; some of these folks find us through our little ad on The Online Photographer blog by Mike Johnston.  Tons of great photography info on that site! 

From a police station in rural Texas to a university in New York....everyone has something to back up and we try hard to have the best items available.  From our office in Louisville, CO (Money Magazine's #5 best place to live in 2005!) we get most orders out same-day and offer prompt delivery with multiple warehouses all over the U.S.

We are now offering international shipping on some products to many countries.  Please visit our International Order info page for more information.

Free shipping and no minimums???  Yes!  We are glad to offer free shipping within the United States (except AK & HI) and have no minimum order amounts.  There are some products that have a starting quantity for ordering but most can be ordered in singles.  We collect sales tax for orders shipped in Colorado.

Specials:  We run a lot of promotions both in the store and through our email list.  If you would like to receive all our promos be sure to sign up on our front page.  We don't send out emails every day but try to get some specials going at least twice a month.  Our monthly email newsletter often has extra coupons as well.

That's enough for now.  I hope if Encore Data Products is new to you you'll check us out; we would love to be your supplier of choice!

Emtec  has a line of USB flash LCD drives that can be loaded with your own logo on a flashing 4 color LCD screen.  I've mentioned this product before but since we are receiving more and more inquiries I decided to show it again:

 Product specifications:

1. Original LCD panel with solar captors
2. Universal compatibility with USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 interfaces
3. Operating systems: WIN 2000, WIN ME, WIN XP, Vista, MAC 8.6, OS 9 et OS X
4. Read speed: up to 7 MB/s
5. Write speed: up to 4 MB/s
6. Image Size: 26.5*12mm
7. Image Resolution: 300dpi
8. Image File Format: PSD/ TIF/ EPS/ BMP/ AI/ JPG
9. USB 1.1/2.0 compliant
10. Hot plug & play
11. No external power is required,it's solar powered
12. 10 years data retention

This is a great promo product for companies, groups and bands.  The key comes preloaded with your logo; each key can also be preloaded with presentation data as well.

Normal turnaround time is about 2 weeks after the artwork is approved.  Right now capacities available are 1GB, 2GB and 4GB.

The minimum order on the custom logo LCD drive is 200 pcs.  The item is available with a preloaded Emtec logo in singles; custom logos require the 200 minimum.

You can see complete specs on the Emtec site as well. 

Avastor has been making the news again lately by teaming up with pros like SADiE and
Guy Charbonneau's Le Mobile Remote Recording.  Company co-founder Richard Wilson does a great job explaining their HDX products on a recent tradeshow podcast.

For the month of May Encore Data Products is running an Avastor promotion:  FREE 2nd Day Air delivery AND a FREE AVASTOR T-Shirt with every Avastor hard drive purchase.  We will automatically upgrade your shipping from free ground to FREE 2nd day air.  Our T-Shirt supply is good but once these run out that part of the promo will be done.  

Avastor has become a world leader in professional A/V hard drives.  Their drives are designed to hold up to the rigors of music, TV & film production.  Don't settle for less...there are cheaper drives out there but you get what you pay for.  A crashed hard drive can really throw a wrench in the works when you are in the middle of a session; you might save some cash up front with a "no fan inexpensive consumer drive" but why take that chance.  

Feel free to call us if you are looking to stock up on Avastor; I would love to provide you with a quantity quote:  866-926-1669 . 

Analog tape is definitely back. Product was never completely gone but it was close. I caught up with Doug Bernhardt, western regional sales manager for RMGI North America, our source for RMG tape in the United States.

He was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about the current state of tape:

What has the response been to being the only active pro analog tape supplier in the U.S.?

Everyone has been very supportive, and in fact enthusiastic with the reintroduction of the analog tape products. People want to know the history of RMGI from its roots with AGFA, BASF, and EMTEC. They want assurances we will continue the analog product. And our job is to create that comfort level that RMGI is here to stay.

I know there have been some issues with earlier reels of tape....what's the latest?

RMGI expected some initial issues with the move from Germany to Holland, and we have had some issues. But to their credit RMGI has been extremely responsive to our problems here in North America. They have made the necessary corrections to the product and the current inventory is performing to the high level we all had expected. There are still isolated issues, but we are dealing with them as quickly as we are aware of them. And would ask users to contact us immediately if any problem, no matter how small crops up.

Different markets are using the different formulations...what tapes are being used in your main markets?

The SM900 has been the main product of choice in the studios, as it was when it was produced by EMTEC. The SM911, which is the equivalent of the discontinued 456, has had a resounding increase in sales. And even the original AGFA 468 has been getting new users to its fold. But SM900 is still the major player in the analog world. How is the current supply in the U.S.? Our first inventory levels were based on a shared market with Quantegy. So, we were caught a little short with their discontinuation, but we again have had excellent support from RMGI. Along with an increase in our ship containers, they have been shipping by air critical product to us when needed. We seem to be working on a JIT (just in time) inventory, but we fully intend to have at least a 30+ day inventory of all required product for our dealers. We are getting close, but not quite there as yet. Demand has been intense for 1/2" product, and we are working hard to maintain inventory for immediate release.

Any parting comments?

I can't say enough about the dealers and clients positive attitude with all the changes in the analog market the last few months. We hope everyone understands we are doing all we can to satisfy all concerned. And we hope that with a little patience from all we will get back to a stable market. Where one can order, receive and record on the analog product and concentrate on just making music.

Thanks Doug for taking some time with us. We are looking forward to supplying studios and musicians with RMG...long live analog!

DLT, LTO, AIT, CD, DVD, Optical, 1/2" tape, hard drives...you name it and there is a Turtle Case by Perm-A-Store built to store and transport your media. I am mentioning the cases today to remind our readers that the cases you buy from Encore Data Products have FREE SHIPPING just like everything else we sell. These cases can get heavy so our free shipping can save you a ton.

We are adding some more cases soon!  Give us a call at 866-926-1669 if you need an item not currently on our site.  We sell everything the manufacturer makes. 

Sun has a section dedicated to all things T10000 (or T10K).   You have to love a tape that can hold 1TB of compressed data.  For a complete spec sheet visit the Sun link here.  The T10000 tape products are designed for the Sun T10000 tape drive:

Looking for tape and barcode labels?  Our ongoing Sun promotion gets you FREE barcode labels with any T10000 tape order of 50+ pcs.

Please call us if we can help out with you Sun media needs:  866-926-1669 

I have been working this week with Jeff Liu at Norco Technologies to get their direct attached storage and controller cards in place at encoredataproducts.com . Norco offers high performance storage products that are priced very competitively; no wonder the Norco market share continues to expand.  The newest hardware item is the DS-1220 RAID Storage subsystem that can hold 12TB + storage.

I asked a few questions this week about the company and here is what I found out:

1  Tell us a little about Norco Technologies...

NORCO, formed in 1991 through the merger of leading industry innovators, is the leading worldwide supplier of server rackmount, storage systems, network appliances, industrial PC parts and solutions distributed by 100 companies around the world. Headquartered in mainland China, NORCO has locations in the US, Canada, Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China...."   Check out the ABOUT US on the manufacturer site for details.

2. Encore Data Products focuses on your storage product offerings.  What industries are using Norco storage products?

The biggest users are the server, movie and security industries.

3. Any new products on the horizon?

Yes.   We are working on a line of Network Attached Storage (NAS) products.

4. Anything else you would like to tell our readers about your products?

Our storage products are the biggest growing portion in our product lines. You get the same performance as the ones that cost you much more.

Thank you Jeff for taking the time to tell us about Norco!  

Readers call call me directly at 866-926-1669 if you need more information.  We will continue to add more Norco items this week.

4th generation Tandberg Data LTO drives LTO-4 FH (1640LTO) are now available. We added the LTO-4 tape media a couple of weeks ago and are happy to report the drives are available too.  The drives write LTO-4 and will backward write LTO-3 tape.  Backward read is available on both LTO-2 and LTO-3.

Tandberg Data part number 7202 is an external drive kit that comes with the External tape drive, black, Backup Exec QuickStart Edition, 1 Data Cartridge + 1 Cleaning Cartridge.  As always shipping is free; the LTO-4 tape is still at our LOW introductory pricing as well.

Ok...I know there are people today who have never held a vinyl record before.  I was bummed when the world of vinyl pretty much disappeared and CDs took over.  As a kid, searching through crate after crate of used albums was fun and I discovered some great bands that way.  Doing the same with CDs is ok but a full LP cover with great artwork does shrink well to a CD insert (or MP3 listing).  I discovered the best band of all time (in my opinion...) at a Flea Market (the Jockey Lot) in Anderson, SC by parting with $2 to pick up a copy of Remote Luxury by The Church.

  The guy selling records had boxes of radio station "promotional only" albums a local country station would not normally  play.   The  album great cover sold me so I took a chance based solely on the look and I have been a huge fan of the Church ever since. 

I still have boxes of records in the basement and for years I have talked about getting a turntable again.  Ion Audio has a product on the market now that is a USB turntable.

It converts your vinyl to MP3 or CD format.  I hope to start converting my albums sooner than later; it should be fun hearing stuff that never made it to CD format before.  There is also a 1/8" stereo line input which allows you to digitize music from cassettes and other analog sources.

We just added another item from Ion Audio: The IDJ dual IPod DJ mixer.

It looks like Ion has picked a couple of winners here; you get a big bang for your buck since both items have excellent prices and can really deliver.

I get this question from time-to-time: What exactly is scratch armor protection on the Delkin Archival Gold CD-R and DVD-R discs?

Scratch Armor is a thin  protective extra coating Delkin puts on the top layer of some Archival Gold CD-R and DVD-R discs.

HERE IS WHAT DELKIN SAYS: 

"Scratch Armor's protective layer prevents scratches, scuffs, dirt, chemicals, and fingerprints; making it the best way to protect your precious memories, music, and important documents. The clear scratch resistant coating that comes on the Archival Gold media prevents damage from the daily grind that CD's and DVD's are faced with. Combined with Archival Gold's established reliability, Archival Gold with Scratch Armor also increases the quality and lifespan of your recordable media. Scratches, scuffs, dirt, chemicals, or fingerprints can leave your recordable media damaged beyond repair, but Scratch Armor insures the lifespan of your disc. Lasting 10 times longer than other recordable media, Scratch Armor's protective surface keeps your memories, music, and files safe. Multiple brands of recordable media manufactured by top competitors, and purchased at well-know mass merchandise chains, were subjected to rigorous laboratory testing in an environmental chamber to measure CD and DVD life expectancy. While Archival Gold media has consistently shown it can safely store your images for more than 300 years, popular competitors didn't make it past 6 months. Archival Gold CD-R's are made with a patented Phthalocyanine dye. When compared to Cyanine and Azo dyes found in the majority of CD-R's on the market, Phthalocyanine dye lasts significantly longer when subjected to the harmful effects of UV light, heat, and humidity. This combined with the non-corroding effects of gold make Archival Gold CD-R's the 300 year disc. Archival Gold DVD-R's have also been tested to last well over 100 years; both Archival Gold formats outlast their competitors by decades."

Scratch Armor protection goes above and beyond other archival gold media;  if your discs will be handled frequently and you want the absolute best protective coverage then the Delkin Archival Gold with SCRATCH ARMOR should be your choice.  Delkin offers their gold media with or without Scratch Armor; we stock only the discs with the extra coating.

Recording Speed Note:  The Delkin CD-R are rated 52X.  The Delkin DVD-R with Scratch Armor are rated 4X.

Did you know Encore Data Products sells replacement ink and ribbons for Primera and Rimage printers and duplicators? Our inventory is all new and is the "real stuff"; no generics or used refill cartridges. Just need one ink cartridge? No problem...order as little or as many as you need. As always free shipping can save you lots.

If you are looking for the Primera or Rimage hardware we have a wide selection too:

Primera offers the Bravo SE, Bravo II and Bravo PRO publishers along with the Accent II disc laminator.  Rimage has the 2000i, 360i and 480i units.  Very popular are the Rimage CD and DVD Media kits:  A kit containing CD or DVD media, Ribbons and/or ink for your Rimage machine. 

It's the end of the month and we are running an incredible sale on Glyph GT050 Quad 500GB and 750GB hard drives.

Prices are almost 50% off list!  Don't forget the free shipping!

Ports:

FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394a) - One 6-pin port

FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) - Two 9-pin ports

USB 2.0 Hi-speed (device-side) port

eSATA - One port

These unbelievable prices are online until tomorrow at 3:00 PM.  

Surface technology looks pretty darn cool...the Microsoft marketing department did a good job on their presentation at least. If you have not seen this technology check out the Microsoft site to "Experience Surface".

Also visit the Popular Mechanics behind-the-scenes first look with video.

As you can see there are thousands of possibilities here; time will tell how well this technology will translate into the workplace and our daily lives.  How long until you can play Blackjack in Vegas on one of these?  

One of our top pro A/V hard drive manufacturers was a sponsor at the recent "From Home to Studio" conference held at the world-renowned studio The Village Recorder in West Los Angeles, CA.  From what we hear and read it was a big success.  The conference was started by David Hampton, author of the book "So, You’re an Audio Engineer. . . Well, Here’s the Other Stuff You Need to Know".  The book is a must-read for anyone working on the recording side of the music industry.

The conference is a perfect fit for Avastor since their current product offerings are built with pro A/V in mind.  People outside of the recording industry might not yet know about Avastor but that will change soon as upcoming products will target multiple storage markets.  

From the Avastor site:  Avastor – offering a broad range of storage and integration solutions for the professional digital content creator. See why Avastor should be your storage supplier

For information on the conference and book visit www.soyoureanaudioengineer.com

We get questions every week from hard drive users wondering why they should spend extra on an A/V hard drive.  For those outside of the pro A/V industries the term "professional Audio/Video hard drive" might seem a little odd. A drive is a drive, right?  Not exactly...

Why spend extra when I can get a great deal on a brand X hard drive at my local chain electronics store?  That depends on what you are using the drive for.  If you are simply backing up your latest digital camera pics or your new MP3 purchases then a cheap USB drive will likely be fine.  Always have at least one copy of everything...drives can crash.

If you are using the drive for large data transfer applications like music, TV and film production don't use your budget cuts on storage.  Ask anyone who has worked on a few projects and odds are you'll hear horror stories of lost data, defective drives etc.  

Since Glyph Technologies is one of our top pro A/V drive lines I pulled some useful information from the Glyph site:

Internal power supplies and fans.

Glyph uses pro-quality internal power supplies in the GT Series, and sturdy IEC type connectors like those used on server-grade computer gear. To keep the drive mechanism cool, we use whisper-quiet fans that produce no more than 20 dBa noise. Some companies offer "fanless" drives. We believe "fanless" is not something to brag about. Without a fan, and in heavy-duty cycles like audio and video production, your drive has a higher likelihood of failing. There's just no other way to put it.

Warranty & Replacement

We offer what we call an Overnight Advance Replacement Policy, which basically states that if your GT Series hard drive fails within the first year of it's warranty, we will send you a replacement drive overnight. Now, who else can make that claim?

Unbeatable Support

We have the industry knowledge to keep up with today's computers and systems, and if you need to call Glyph Support, you get directly through to a tech who is prepared to help you. If your drive does need to be repaired, we have a 48-Hour in-house turnaround time on most repairs, which means that you'll be up and running again in no time.

No wall-warts in the GT Series.

Don'tcha just hate them? You can't just use any adapter with any drive -- you have to use the one that it came with. And if you lose it, you're out of luck. Big, bulky wall adapters take up more than their share of the power strip, not to mention that the fragile connector from the wart to the drive is anything but professional.

Quietmetal

Glyph's Quietmetal is our time-tested solution to quieting noisy hard drives. It's a tri-laminate material (two layers of metal separated by a polymer core) which mounts the disk mechanism to the chassis, and dampens disk vibration before it reaches the chassis, thereby reducing the overall noise of the hard drive system. And it's dead quiet. Really. Glyph is pleased to offer Seagate hard drive mechanisms in our hard drive products. Seagate has the best reputation and the lowest failure rates that we've seen from any disk manufacturer.

I hope this helps.  Definitely do not buy more storage than you need but be sure NOT to buy less. 

Finally we have more Panasonic LM-BE50DE rewritable 50GB blu-ray discs available again. This particular capacity in the rewritable format has been very hard to find but here at Encore Data Products we have stock today!

	Data Capacity		50GB 1
	Recording Speed		1x - 2x
	Disc Type (Layer)		Dual Layer
	Single Side		Yes
	Rewritable		Yes
	Case/Cartridge Type		Full-size jewel case
	Country of Origin		Made in Japan

The 50GB is currently the highest capacity blu-ray disc on the market; having the rewrite ability makes the LM-HB50DE a very popular disc. 

Please call us at 866-926-1669 and ask for Jeff if you are looking for a large quantity; I'll see what I can do for bid pricing.  That goes for all formats of recordable blu-ray discs, both 25GB and 50GB capacities.

To see our complete selection of recordable blu-ray and HD DVD media (we do not sell the pre-recorded movies) please visit Blu-ray / HD DVD Media page.

Glyph Technologies manufacturers professional grade hard drives, hardware and accessories for the pro A/V storage markets.  Our contact at Glyph, Josh Sularski, was kind enough to partake in one of my e-mail interviews; he had some excellent info:

Hey Josh...What's the latest at Glyph?
We are always moving forward at Glyph.  Right now we are working on transitioning our removable GT Key and Rack systems over to FireWire 800 (don't worry FW 400 fans, there will be a legacy port for you).  A lot of people are anxious to see us release the FireWire 800 versions of the GT 051, GT 103, GT 205, and GT Keys, but our testing is so thorough that we will not release our new products to the market until they have passed some very rigorous benchmarks in reliability and performance.

Besides transitioning the GT Key system to FireWire 800, we have a relatively new product out called the GT 062.  The GT 062 is actually two hard drives in a single tabletop enclosure. It is the drive to get if you do a lot of work with video, you know, stuff like Final Cut.  It is provides great performance for virtual instruments and sampler software.  Examples of these kinds of products include Synthogy Ivory, Native Instruments, Vienna Symphony, BFD, etc.

It is available in sizes from 500GB up to 1.5TB and has the same physical footprint as a regular GT 050.  It can be set to one of three modes.  RAID0/Striping, JBOD, or Spanning.

For those who are new to hard drives, I'll explain the differences briefly:

RAID 0 / Striping: The two drives in the GT 062 work together and show up on your computer as one volume.  This helps shorten seek times and maximizes the bandwidth of the FireWire 800 bus.  Very good for streaming video and samples.

JBOD: Literally stands for "Just a Bunch Of Disks".  The two drives will show up as two independent volumes on your desktop.  The advantage here is that they work independently of each other and still only need one cable to connect them to your computer.

Spanning: The two drives will show up as one volume on your desktop.  However, this is different than RAID 0.  In Spanning mode, the drives do not work in harmony together.  As one drive is filled to capacity, the GT 062 will simply start storing data on the next drive.  It's like having a 1.5TB single hard drive.  Pretty cool!

Where are Glyph drives being used?
Glyph drives are used in many high profile environments.  They are in most major label studios.  Check out this link for our client list.  And these are just the ones we know about!  While we are primarily geared towards the entertainment industry, our drives are used in many IT environments where reliability and performance are paramount.  Our system integrator market has grown very nicely in recent years.

Demand has been great this year for Glyph.  There have also been some supply issues that are almost worked out...when can we expect the GT Keys to be available again?
We know it's been difficult for those who are fans of the GT Keys.  Our target date for having stock again is July 11th, but we hope it is sooner.

Any new products on the horizon?
Our team is very focused on the FireWire 800 transition right now, but we are also working on adding RAID 1 capability to the GT 062.  This will act as an automatic "backup" for your data, providing the data mirroring that many people desire.

Besides storage Glyph makes some great products like a personal monitor and CD/DVD duplicator.  Overall what are the most popular Glyph products?
By far our most popular product is the GT 050Q.  The most popular size is probably 250GB.  People like the quad connectivity options.  These are FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0, and eSATA; all in a professional and sleek enclosure.

Any closing comments...?
In this era of large music and movie files and just larger file storage in general, it is easy to go out and purchase an inexpensive external hard drive for your storage needs.  However, 99% of the brands out there do not manufacture a product that is conducive to safeguarding your data in the long term.  While all hard drives are mechanical devices (and so they are guaranteed to malfunction at some point), Glyph has gone through great lengths to provide you with a reliable product with which you will be storing your priceless data.

Check out this quick fact check on our GT Series products:
5 Year Seagate Warranty on the  hard drive mechanism 
3-Year Glyph Fully Backed Warranty
2-Year Free Data Recovery
1-Year Free Overnight Advance Replacement

Our warranty and service are unrivaled within the industry.  We always use Seagate drives, an internal power supply for the most reliable power source, and a quiet fan so that your data and drive are protected from the number one killer of hard drives, heat.

Glyph drives are just among the most reliable out there, and if you have a problem, we'll help you get your data back and get you on your feet again.  Thanks for reading!

Thanks Josh for all the latest.  Check out our complete Glyph product selection today.  Need more info?  Call us at 866-926-1669.

I'm happy to report we are currently adding the Hamilton Buhl line of education products. We will have headphones, listening centers, CD DVD Cassette players & recorders / duplicators, PA systems, overhead projectors, AV carts and even megaphones. 

Our IT department is working hard this week to list everything. Prior to adding Hamilton Buhl we had a limited supply of Telex headphones and headsets; we are looking forward to greatly expanding our offerings to schools.

Purchase orders are accepted for most educational orders or you can pay by credit card and order online.

Hamilton Buhl has been working with electronics for education since 1933.  With a wide product selection to choose from educators will find exactly what they need.  Odds are those great film strips I used to watch in the 4th grade were shown on a Hamilton projector!  

If you have any questions about the line or would like to discuss your upcoming hardware needs please call us toll-free at 866-926-1669.

Don't forget we also sell the media for all your computer backups too...from CD-R & DVD-R to all formats of data tapes.   

School Fundraising:  One benefit of not being a huge corporate entity is we have the ability to respond to customer requests quickly and efficiently.  One idea that was presented is fundraising for schools.  We are looking into using our products for fundraising opportunities and would LOVE to hear from you if this is something that might work for your school.  Please call:  866-926-1669 and ask for Jeff Burgess. 

I was updating our media storage case products this morning and thought a quick note about Turtle Cases would be good. Perm-a-Store offers a wide selection of solid, rugged media transport cases. Since some of the cases are not exactly light the Encore Data Products Free Ground Shipping program can save you expensive freight costs.

The most popular cases we see are for LTO transport:  

and hard drives:

 If you use media storage cases please contact us with any questions.  We will continue to add turtle cases in the near future.  Our phone:  866-926-1669.

Digital Audio for Consumers is a format of recordable CD-R that was developed to combat unauthorized music copying. At one time stand-alone Audio-Only CD-R burners were on the market for consumers to burn their music discs. These discs have an extra layer of protection called Serial Copy Management System (SCMS) that prevents multiple illegal copies of a music CD.

The stand-alone recorders are still out there so we carry a couple of products by MAM-A Mitsui for our audio clients.  MAM-A has a great technical paper that explains in detail the digital audio format.

From MAM-A: "Digital Audio for Consumers" is the term used to describe CD-R media and recorders that incorporate a copy protection scheme known as SCMS (see below). The idea is to limit unauthorized copies of "intellectual property", i.e., music owned by recording companies or musicians. CD-R discs that are recorded with these drives can not be copied with another drive that complies with SCMS. --You can't make a copy from a copy. CD recorders that comply with these requirements use built in software that looks for information on the CD-R and either rejects or accepts it. If it finds the copy protection coding, the recorder identifies it as "Digital Audio for Consumers" and recording begins If the CD-R is not coded, the disc is rejected. This system was adopted by manufacturers at the insistence of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Royalties are paid by the manufacturers to the recording industry for each CD-R sold. 

Read the complete story... 

Buy Digital Audio CD-Rs here. 

Our Yoggie products which I mentioned earlier this week are shipping now with Free 2nd Day Air. This introductory promo will not last too long; product is in stock and 99% of Encore Data Products orders ship the same day we receive them!

Anyone who travels with a laptop can benefit from the Pico Personal.  Here is the data sheet from Yoggie.com that details the Pico:

Stop security threats from ever reaching your laptop

Protect your laptop from the outside

Yoggie Pico stops security threats before they reach your laptop. As a dedicated security hardware appliance with no PC-related vulnerabilities, Yoggie Pico provides unmatched security, by physically keeping threats away from your PC. This powerful, yet tiny USB key-size device packs 12 built-in security applications, including Firewall, Antivirus, Anti-Spyware, and more, you will not need to purchase additional security software for your laptop. It is easy to carry and use – simply plug it to your laptop and you are completely secure.

Connect to any hotspot with complete piece of mind

Internet Hotspots are notorious for their security risks. The fact that you are connected to the same network shared by hundreds of users reveals the identity of your computer, exposing it to security threats. With Yoggie Pico you can connect to any unsecured hotspot knowing that you are completely protected. It hides your laptop’s IP Address, revealing only its own, and creates a physical barrier from incoming threats, protecting it from unknown attacks by dropping the connection as they are identified.

Boost your laptop’s performance

It is widely known that security software installed on a PC can dramatically reduce its performance. In fact, PC World has recently revealed that one of the top selling security suites “may slow your PC unacceptably”*. Yoggie Pico frees your PC from security tasks. All the security applications operate in coordination with no security software conflicts or failures.

* PC World UK – May 2007

You don’t have to be a security expert

With Yoggie Pico you don’t have to be a security expert to enjoy “Titanium Grade Security”. All you have to do is simply plug Yoggie Pico in and you are completely safe. Yoggie Pico even features automatic security updates and upgrades, so you don’t have to worry about downloads.

Built-in Parental Content Control

Yoggie Pico offers built-in parental content control, protecting your household from inappropriate content and suspicious sites. Finally the Internet can be a safe place for members of your family.

Complete protection against

• Viruses
• Worms
• Identity theft
• Data theft
• Phishing
• Spyware
• Spam
• IP Spoofing
• Denial of Service attacks

All-in-one Security

• Anti Virus
• Anti Spam
• Anti Phishing
• Intrusion Detection
• Intrusion Prevention
• Firewall (Stateful Inspection)
• Web Filtering
• Parental Content Control
• Adaptive Security Policy™
• Multi-Layer Security Agent™
• Layer-8 Security Engine

Here is the latest storage offering from Norco Technologies:

DS-1240 12 Bay Ifiniband Multilane SATA Hard Drive Storage Array

NORCO DS-1240 with 3x Infiniband Multilane 4-channel interface storage array, supports both 1.5 Gb/s and 3Gb/s Serial ATA transfer rates. The enclosure comes with twelve SATA 3.5" hot-swappable drive trays and directly plug-in backplane, providing optimize performance and scalebility RAID solutions. With the optional third-party RAID controller, it can be configured as RAID level 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 or JBOD external RAID Array.

Features:

• 3U rack height;
• Three Infiniband Multilane 4-channel external female connectors, thumbscrew-type, total 12 external SATA channels;
• DS-1240 doesn't have a storage limit;
• 1.5 Gb/s SATA Gen 1 and 3 Gb/s SATA Gen 2 host and drive support.
• Supports up to twelve 3.5" SATA-I or SATA-II disk drives;
• Excellent cooling system ensures drive reliability;
• Hot-swappable disk drive tray with special designed power-off and lock mechanism;
• Monitor and alarm indicators for temperature and fans
• Additional trays available
• Optional third-party RAID controller cards* support RAID level 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 and JBOD

*Compatible third-party RAID Controllers: HighPoint RocketRAID 2322 Host Adapter (PCIe, 8 lanes), HighPoint RocketRAID 2224 Host Adapter (PCI/PCI-X, 4 lanes), Areca ARC-1110ML (PCI-X, 4 lanes), Areca ARC-1120ML (PCI-X, 8 lanes), Areca ARC-1130ML (PCI-X, 12 lanes), Areca ARC-1210ML (PCIe, 4 lanes), Areca ARC-1220ML (PCIe, 8 lanes), Areca ARC-1230ML (PCIe, 12lanes)..etc

In stock and shipping today!  Call us at 866-926-1669 or order online.

How do you back up your data?  Do you back up your data?  Both business and home computers have to have some sort of system in place; data loss due to a computer failure can be a huge inconvenience or even devastating.  I found out the hard way this week when my home laptop decided turning on was not something it wanted to do anymore.  Luckily that machine did not have much on it and I got it working again with minimal data loss.

I recently added more backup options to our store; one of the new ones is the Imation RDX removable hard drive system.  This is a perfect backup solution for small to medium businesses that will grow with you.  The system consists of a docking station and removable hard drive cartridges; you can back up over 125GB per hour and the removable cartridges are rugged and portable.

From the Imation site:

"Features:

• Removability, portability and reliability - protects your data no matter how your
  business grows.
  
  
• Secure - includes the full version of EMC® Retrospect® software featuring password protection and 256-bit AES encryption (U.S. government approved) to help prevent unauthorized users from accessing data
  
  
• Expandable and flexible - docking station is compatible with existing 40GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB and forward compatible with higher capacities
  
  
• Easy to use backup solution - the device is mounted as a removable drive icon allowing simple drag-n-drop backup operation
  
  
• Fast - Accessing data is almost instantaneous minimizing backup and restore time"

Right now the cartridges are available in capacities ranging from 40GB to 160GB.  The docking stations come in both external USB and internal SATA formats.

Description		UPC		Size (LxWxH)		Weight
RDX External USB Dock - 40GB Cartridge		26611		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		3.3lbs
RDX External USB Dock - 80GB Cartridge		26612		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		3.3lbs
RDX External USB Dock - 120GB Cartridge		26613		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		3.3lbs
RDX Internal SATA Dock - 40GB Cartridge		26707		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		2.75lbs
RDX Internal SATA Dock - 80GB Cartridge		26708		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		2.75lbs
RDX Internal SATA Dock - 120GB Cartridge		26709		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		3.3lbs
RDX Internal SATA Dock - 160GB Cartridge		26710		10.125"x5.375"x8.25"		3.3lbs

You can't run out of storage space...just add cartridges as needed.  If you would like more information please visit our Imation RDX page or give us a call:  866-926-1669.   

This just in...

* Avastor expands the HDX product line, lowers prices and doubles its warranty period

* Avastor HDX-1500 Quad drive available soon:   USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA ports.

* New Two Year Warranty:  Includes  IRP (Immediate  Replacement Policy)

* Lower prices:  No  explanation needed here! 

Visit our AVASTOR page for full product listings.  We will add the HDX-1500 Quad hard drive series as soon as they become available. 

Headphones, headsets, listening centers, CD & DVD duplicators, overhead projectors, PA systems and more...it takes a variety of gear to keep your school's AV department and classrooms stocked with the latest technology hardware.

We are continually adding products by Hamilton Buhl, Telex and more to meet the needs of schools across the country. Some of you might have sat through those wonderful filmstrips that were popular back in the dark ages when I was in school but today the choices are almost limitless. While technology has increased the methods of information delivery and presentation some of the hardware basics are still the same. Solid headphones and listening centers will never go out of style; you have to have a sturdy product that can survive the rigorous daily tests elementary schoolers can provide. Hamilton Buhl is a name synonymous with educational products; Telex offers a wide selection of headphones and headsets too.

We work with schools all over the country and would love the opportunity to supply your location. Please call us at 866-926-1669 or email us with any product needs or questions.

Glyph GT Key drives and enclosures are highly sought-after in the pro AV world. High capacity, easily transportable and dependable are some popular features. The Keys have been out-of-stock for a little too long but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.  

It looks like within the month product will be available again FINALLY.  Here is a little about the GT Keys for those not familiar:

 The GT Key™ is a hot-swap drive cartridge at the heart of the GT Series.

Fully hot-swappable using Glyph's proprietary integrity™ FireWire interface, the GT Key is interchangeable among the GT 051, GT 103, GT 205, and GT 308 FireWire enclosures. Utilizing a high-performance 7,200 RPM hard drive and Glyph's tri-laminate sound-damping technology, a GT Key is not only fast, but it's quiet too. Available in a range of high capacities, this hot-swappable FireWire drive makes content more portable and expansion easy.

Features

• Glyph's integrity™ FireWire 400 interface
• Key Lock on Handle
• Tri-laminate Quiet Metal
• Hard plastic carrying case included
• Air flows through GT Key front to back
• 3 Year Warranty
• 2 Year Free Basic Data Recovery
• Overnight Advance Replacement

We are accepting phone PRE-ORDERS now...please call us toll-free at 866-926-1669 if you would like to secure a drive or two from the first shipment. 

How long will your archived photos, music, movies, etc. last on an archival gold CD-R or DVD-R disc? Until recently most manufacturers said about 300 years for the gold CD-R and 100+ years for DVD-R and DVD+R discs. MAM-A recently released new test results that show even longer lifetime stability: 329 years for MAM-A Gold Archive CD-R and 116 years for their Gold Archive DVD-R.

 We have had a lot of luck with the MAM-A gold products; to view the recent MAM-A report please click here.

Compatibility can be an issue if your firmware is not up-to-data; MAM-A provides a link on their site with Firmware upgrade information and links.   

It is time for a little summer promo on our Glyph Technologies hard drives!

We just lowered prices and for the next week you will get FREE 2nd Day Air shipping on any Glyph order over $299. This offer is valid for the lower 48 states. All you have to do is put FREE 2 DAY in the order comments section.

The Glyph GT series includes the FireWire 400 GT050, Quad GT050Q (FireWire 400, FireWire 800, USB 2.0 and eSATA ports), and the GT 062 dual drive units.  The GT Keys are not available but we are very optimistic we will see those soon...

PortaGig, NetDrive, enclosures, CD/DVD dupers...everything will have Free 2nd Day Air if your Glyph total is over $299!

 Looking for a specific configuration on Trip Rack or 2U series combo?  Please give us a call at 866-926-1669; we would love to help.

Glyph has a product designed for your professional audio or video editing application.  Glyph drives are found in many world-class recording facilities; they understand audio and video can have different requirements. 

Ready to save now?  Visit our Glyph pages. 

I just received an e-mail saying there was an article on the Yoggie brand of security products in the Wall Street Journal. The Yoggie line is still new but it looks to be a popular choice for computer protection.

We currently have the Yoggie GateKeeper Pro, Yoggie GateKeeper SOHO (for up to 5 computers) and the Yoggie  Pico Personal available to ship today. The Pico Pro is coming soon.

Please visit our Yoggie page for available products.  As always ground shipping is FREE!

The TEAC P-55 printer produces photo-quality prints on your CD and DVD media. The final product is scratch proof, smudge proof, and waterproof; your discs will definitely stand out from the crowd. TEAC has an excellent FAQ page that details everything you need to know about the P-55 printer.

 Currently we have the P-55 available for $4999 with FREE shipping.  The part number is P-55-111.

Avastor hard drives continue to make their way into pro A/V facilities around the globe. A recent article on BroadcastNewsroom.com about an audio restoration project mentions Avastor drives as the choice method of storing and transporting the restored media. Cups 'n Strings Studio did the restoration for Bob Clearmountain's Mix This!. I pulled up the article and saw a photo of my good friend Tim Davis of Recording Data Service in Burbank. Tim and I used to work together when I was a co-owner of Recorded Media Supply in Burbank. He and his partners recently started up RDS in Burbank and are doing great. You can check out the complete article here.

What is medical grade media? We get that question now and again from customers looking for quality DVD and CD discs. Basically there are some agreed-upon standards that media must meet to be called "medical grade" The DICOM (Digital Information and Communications in Medicine) Standard is a big part of this. MAM-A explains DICOM and the MAM-A manufacturing process on their site. TDK Medical is a major player in the medical media market; they also have stringent guidelines for producing medical grade media; you can read the TDK details on the TDK Medical site. Medical grade media is required in many hospitals and the market continues to grow as more facilities switch from film to digital media.

We offer medical grade CD-R. DVD-R, DVD-RAM and magneto opticals by leading manufacturers like MAM-A Mitsui, TDK Medical, Maxoptix and Verbatim. If you are looking for a supplier of medical grade media or would like to discuss our products please visit our Medical section or give us a call: 866-926-1669.

"Find one in every car. You'll see." 

Replace "car" with "recording studio" and you will have the Yamaha NS-10M studio monitors. The NS10 monitors are not manufactured anymore but due to intense loyalty the replacement woofers and tweeters are still around.

The woofer part number is  XN542AA0 and the tweeter is XC712AA0. You can order by phone 866-926-1669 or online.

RMG recently introduced the Green Tune Audio Mastering CD-R, a precision-made disc designed for audio mastering. We are currently running a FREE GREEN TUNE promotion that gets you a Green Tune CD-R with every $200.00 in RMG tape you purchase.

Check out our RMG product list and place an order online; we will include a Green Tune disc for every $200 you spend. Be sure to mention GREEN TUNE on your order to take advantage of this deal.

Verity Systems:  Manufacturers of CD / DVD Duplicators, Printers, Packaging Equipment and Degaussers. We recently expanded our product offerings by Verity Systems to include more CD/DVD duplicators and packaging equipment. As blu-ray recordable media continues to take off we realized we needed a quality blu-ray duplication system; Verity Systems has the perfect product.

Verity offers industrial-grade degaussers for multiple media formats; we have a few of the many formats available online.  Please contact us if you are looking for a degausser not listed on our site.  Looking for a cost-effective system to package your CD or DVD product?  Check our the Verity Systems media packaging lines.

Our biggest additions were in the CD/DVD duplicator section; we expanded the Power Tower machines and you should be able to find one to meet your budget and/or duplication demands. 

Encore Data Products wants to be your only choice for Sun StorageTek T10000 (T10K) tape media.  While the unlabeled tape (part number 003-0519-01) is popular for smaller installations we also carry T10K in both Labeled and Labeled / Initialized formats.  If Sun makes it, we will have it.

Why T10000 tape?  Here are some product highlights from the Sun site:

• Save valuable floor space Store up to 500 gigabytes of uncompressed data per standard cartridge and 120 gigabytes per Sport cartridge.

• Extend media durability Enhance data protection with a unique hub-lock design and the StorageTek T10000 SafeGuide system.

• Reduce costs Minimize tape mounts and improve automation efficiency with a low-cost-per-gigabyte, high-end, half-inch storage medium.

• Protect storage investments Reformat and reuse T10000 cartridges with the next-generation tape drive to take advantage of capacity and throughput improvements.

• Boost confidence in business-critical applications Enhance data backup and restore, archiving, and disaster recovery operations with performance-tested tape cartridge durability and longevity.

Please check out our Sun Storgetek products and contact us if you have any questions.

Free ground shipping is popular; Avastor hard drives are big too.  How about Free 2 day shipping?   We just started a free 2nd Day Air promo today for all Avastor hard drive shipments this week. No coupon, no secret code...we'll upgrade your Avastor drive shipping to FREE 2ND DAY if you order by August 17th. You can order online or by phone 866-926-1669.

I just got a press release detailing the new RMG Green Tune Mastering Audio CD-R. This product is perfect for "Mastering, Demo or Test Tracking, Audio Mixing for Mobile Playback, Live Performance Direct-to-disc Recording, LP and Analog to Digital Transfers, Media Migration for Library Applications, etc.  The full press release can be found here.

We have the discs in stock and offer free shipping.   You can order online or call us at 866-926-1669.

It is back-to-school around here again; that was a very FAST summer. As schools gear up for the year I wanted to mention we have both Hamilton Buhl and Telex brand education headphones, headsets and misc. hardware. Please check out our AV Equipment for Education section for a complete listing.

Listening centers, audio cassette recorders and players, CD & DVD duplicators, AV carts, PA systems, overhead projectors and more... School purchase orders are always welcome. Please call us at 866-926-1669 if you would like to discuss any upcoming needs.

Looking for a solid small office backup and data protection system? Check out the Imation Odyssey Hard Disk storage system.  Imation says it best:

"The Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System is designed to help small offices and home offices meet the escalating challenges of data protection by providing fast backup, accurate restores and full disaster recovery with minimal effort. The system is ideal for a wide range of data storage environments, including high-security storage applications, replacing tape for entry-level backup, or anywhere large volumes of data need to be stored quickly and securely and accessed rapidly.

The Imation Odyssey system utilizes a rugged, reliable disk cartridge that backs up like a tape drive and features the performance advantages of a disk-to-disk system. The Imation Odyssey removable hard disk cartridge capacities range from 40GB to 250GB. The docking station accommodates all disk capacities and is scalable to future capacities, making the Imation Odyssey Removable Hard Disk Storage System a sound investment for years to come."

Cartridge Features:

• 2.5-inch SATA HDD (Hard Disk Drive) in a durable shock-protected cartridge design tested to withstand up to a one meter drop
• Specially designed 160GB cartridge is TAA compliant and can be purchased on federal contracts consistent with TAA purchasing regulations
• Compatible with Odyssey Docking Stations
• Sealed HDD within anti-static cartridge
• Compact portable design - 3.2in x 5in x 0.4in
• 3 year limited warranty

I was amazed by the amount of storage used at the CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC).  I researching Sun T10000 tape and found an article at searchstorage.com that details the LHC use of both disk storage systems and commercial tape drives.   When storage is measured in petabytes there is some serious working going on.   I would not mind landing a tape sale for this project!  We sell a lot of T10K tape but that gig would be pretty nice.    

The latest pro A/V hard drive offering from Avastor hit the street this week. Their new HDX-1500 series offers up to 1TB storage with 4 port options: 1 eSATA, 2 FireWire 800 and 1 USB 2.0.   FireWire 400 users don't despair...the drive comes with the Avastor lockbox, inserts and cables which include a FireWire 400 to FireWire 800 cable. 1000GB of storage is often needed these days for many pro audio, video and film projects so Avastor is meeting that demand.

Here are the specs on the 1TB version: 

 Part number: HDX-15001000GB

 Our Avastor promotion is continuing:  FREE 2nd DAY AIR on all Avastor drive shipments to the lower 48 states.  Please call us at 866-926-1669 if you like or you can order online.

Yoggie has just upgraded their customer contact and support page to include both email and toll-free phone support. Please visit Yoggie.com support page for details.

Need to expand your wardrobe? Buy a Glyph drive from Encore Data Products! While supplies last...we are tossing in a free Glyph/Encore t-shirt with every Glyph drive purchase. Available sizes are XL, XL or XL. These black cotton shirts are going fast! No coupon needed; we will stick one in the box with your order.  Order today!

 Glyph GT Key update:  Some keys have arrived and back orders are being filled.  We are expecting the GT Keys to be readily available by the end of the month or early October at the latest. 

 GT 062:  We have a very limited supply on the 062 in the 1TB and 1.5TB capacities with more arriving very early October.

A collective sigh of relief was recently heard from all the open reel analog tape users. RMG continues to support the pro recording industry with their SM900, SM911 and SM468 tape formulations. We still get calls for Quantegy tape but it appears to be gone forever. Personally I'm bummed since they had a great product and it is always good to have more than one option available. Luckily the guys at RMGI USA have been working overtime to get the full product lines available in the U.S.

Quantegy GP9 users are usually switching to the SM 900 tape. We have product spec sheets available on our site for all the formulas. Since this stuff is not exactly light our FREE ground shipping can save you a ton.

Be sure to check out our Audio Tape section for the full selection; we recently added the RMG PR-35 1 mil. tape line as well.

We have formatted DTRS, DAT, audio cassettes and more available too! 

A quick plug for Ryan Design Studio. It has been about a year since we hired them to design our new site and we have been 110% pleased. As Encore Data Products grows and our site adds functions Padraic and crew have always been able to come through for us. Great customer service is pretty rare so I thought a quick mention of Ryan Design Studio might sway anyone looking for an X-Cart or web designer. Check out Ryan Design Studio...

I am VERY happy to report Glyph GT Keys are back in stock! Some folks have been patiently waiting on this Glyph line. We also have the GT0510F-0 enclosure ready to roll. The GT-103 will be awhile longer.

Our free t-shirt promo is in full swing; order any Glyph hard drive from Encore Data Products and receive a free Encore/Glyph T-Shirt.  Please call us at 866-926-1669 if we can be of service.

Diskology, a manufacturer of products for hard drive duplication, just released their new Disk Jockey Pro IT units. We have very limited stock on the Pro IT and the Pro IT forensic version.

Please call us at 866-926-1669 or view the items online. 

Listening centers, headphones & headsets, megaphones, AV carts, overhead projectors, PA systems, CD, DVD & cassette recorders / players...this list continues to grow. We are currently adding more AV products for education by Hamilton Buhl. A leader in the education field, Hamilton-Buhl offers extensive lines of products built for school use. We really enjoy working with schools around the country to help fill their AV needs.

The FREE ground shipping can help budgets too...some of the AV items are pretty heavy! Please call or email if you have any specific questions or need products not listed on our site; we are here to help. Purchase orders are gladly accepted from schools as well. Be sure to check out our AV for Education section.

Phone:  866-926-1669

Email:  sales@encoredataproducts.com 

Attention pro photographers! We just added Delkin's CompactFlash Pro UDMA enabled cards. UDMA (ultra direct memory access) increases transfer speeds which can make working a whole lot easier...

Order online today!  Ground shipping is free.

From Delkin: 

Delkin's CompactFlash Pro UDMA enabled cards deliver industry-leading read/write speeds with a minimum sustained transfer speed of 305x (45MB/sec). The enhanced camera-to-card and card-to-computer transfer times considerably improve workflow for any pro photographer in the field.

Delkin's CompactFlash Pro UDMA cards when used with the Delkin's line of Pro readers and adapters, dramatically reduces the time needed to download digital image files to a computer. The difference may be crucial for those working in the field with battery operated laptops, and particularly important for pros working in news media, wedding or event photography. Certainly any photographer working with larger RAW files will experience a great benefit in faster transfer speeds in the camera and computer.

FAQ

What is UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access)?
To help explain this we asked our Senior Digital Design Engineer, Chris Wood, to give us his explanation, "The advantages of UDMA over previous transfer modes are the use of double edge clocking, that is transferring data on both the rising and falling edge of the clock thereby doubling the data transfer rate per clock and increased reliability by the use of cyclical redundancy checking (CRC) for data transferred over the bus."

Basically, this new technology facilitates data transfer; dramatically increasing transfer speeds, allowing for a more streamlined workflow process. It's important to note that UDMA technology is ONLY utilized when used in combination with UDMA enabled devices, such as Delkin's FireWire 400/800 reader, the ExpressCard CF adapter, or CardBus32 UDMA adapter.

Which hard drive should I use for my session? We get a lot of questions about drives and we always recommend both Glyph and Avastor. Both companies build products for the pro AV markets and they understand the need for something more solid than the low cost consumer products available today. Customer support is excellent with each; this is so important when it comes to your recording project.

Please visit our Glyph and Avastor pages to see everything available.   The Avastor and Glyph manufacturer sites are great sources of info too.

We ship free ground on all drives too!  Call us at 866-926-1669.  Thanks!

Yoggie security hardware devices are quickly growing in popularity as more people see the benefits of the Yoggie system of protecting computers. Yoggie has added 24/7 phone support; their online knowledge base continues to grow as well.

 Encore Data Products offers Free Shipping on Yoggie (and everything else...) so check out the Yoggie selection today.

We are running a Yoggie promotion from October 16th through October 22nd. Encore always ships free but for a limited time get Free Next Day delivery* on all in-stock Yoggie security products. To take advantage of this promotion type "FREE OVERNIGHT" in the comments section of your order.

Yogge Pico Personal, Pico Pro, Gate Keeper SOHO and Gate Keeper PRO.

Shop Yoggie... 

*Overnight shipping promo valid for lower 48 states only.

Imation offers two great hard drive backup solutions:

Imation RDX® and  Odyssey™  Removable Hard Disk Storage Systems

From Imation:

Features:

• Removability, portability and reliability - protects your data no matter how your
  business grows.
  
  
• Secure - includes the full version of EMC® Retrospect® software (version: 7.5.370) featuring password protection and 256-bit AES encryption (U.S. government approved) to help prevent unauthorized users from accessing data
  
  
• Expandable and flexible - docking station is compatible with existing 40GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 300GB and forward compatible with higher capacities
  
  
• Easy to use backup solution - the device is mounted as a removable drive icon allowing simple drag-n-drop backup operation
  
  
• Fast - Accessing data is almost instantaneous minimizing backup and restore time
  
  
• Guaranteed TAA compliant - a specially designed 160GB bundle provides confidence that the backup solution and media can be purchased on federal contracts consistent with TAA purchasing regulations

I have been a fan of Avastor hard drives since the company launched; both of the company founders have vast pro audio experience and launching the hard drive line made sense.  Encore Data Products sells into a variety of markets, one of which is the pro AV area.  We are seeing Avastor drives going all over the U.S.; now that the HDX-1500 series is available the selection is unmatched.

Avastor also seems to be in the news too:  Check out this article on London’s Strongroom/AIR Studio Group and another about Gussie Miller and Avastor saving the day.

The Avastor line is also seen in other industries that require a reliable and fast hard drive; some of the other places currently using Avastor include Fire Departments, hospitals, professional photography and ad agencies. 

I am excited to report we just added the Rocsecure ROCBIT lines of secure encrypted hard drives by Rocstor.  Both mobile 2.5" and desktop 3.5" drives are available. 

From Rocstor:

"The Rocsecure Rocbit 3 external hard drives are industry's most versatile, Real-Time Hardware Encrypted storage solution available. Rocbit 3A, USB2.0 and FireWire 400 Combo drives offer security-sensitive users a wide range of NIST certified DES (Data Encryption Standard) and TDES (Triple DES) encrypted algorithms. Rocbit 3.5" drives are designed with DES/TDES 40/64/128 or 192-bit Real-Time Hardware data encryption security performance which effectively intercept, interpret, translate and relay IDE data commands to and from disk drives in "Real-Time". Rocbit 3 products are designed with patented Anti-Shock hard disk protection. Rocsecure drives offer the technologies you need to keep you data secure and safe.

Please visit our encrypted hard drive section for details and ordering. 

Glyph GT Keys FW800 and GT 062 RAID 1

Glyph is now shipping the newest version of the GT Keys; the new keys are FireWire 800 and are available in capacities ranging from 160GB to 1TB.

The GT 062 dual drive tabletop now supports RAID 1 as well as STRIPING, JBOD and Spanning.

From Glyph:

The FireWire 800 GT Key™ is here!

Fully hot-swappable using Glyph's proprietary integrity™ FireWire 800 interface, the GT Key800 is interchangeable among the GT 051, GT 103, GT 205, and GT 308 FireWire enclosures. The new FW800 GT Key uses 7,200 RPM Seagate drives with Oxford’s 924 chip, and performs at bus speeds roughly double that of FireWire 400. Seagate's SATA drives incorporate Native Command Queuing (NCQ), an algorithm that reschedules and reorders commands, improving drive efficiency. In an audio environment, NCQ can improve the number of audio tracks that can be played, often by as much as 15% over existing PATA drives using FireWire 400.

Backward and Forward Compatibility

FireWire 800 GT Keys are backward-compatible with all GT Series FireWire 400 enclosures because both versions use the same hot-swap technology, Glyph's integrity™ FireWire interface. At the 2007 AES show, Glyph announced FireWire 800 versions of the GT 051 tabletop hot-swap enclosure, and the GT 103 three-bay single-space rack. Again, compatibility will be maintained, and older FireWire 400 GT Keys will be forward-compatible with the new FireWire 800 enclosures. Upgrading your studio to FireWire 800 can be seamless while you maintain your investment in FireWire 400 GT Keys.

GT Key800 is available in a range of capacities from 160GB to 1TB. They ship in a protective carrying case that includes anti-static foam padding with a hard plastic outside shell, which allows GT Key drives to be stored and transported safely.

Features

• Glyph's integrity™ FireWire 800 interface
• Backward compatible with FireWire 400 enclosures
• 32MB cache in 1TB capacity
• Key Lock on Handle
• Hard plastic carrying case included
• Air flows through GT Key front to back
• 3 Year Warranty
• 2 Year Free Basic Data Recovery
• Overnight Advance Replacement

Our education & school product lines are growing; we just added digital cameras and camcorders by Hamilton Electronics.  These are built for the education market and are now offered along with their headphones, headsets, listening centers, AV carts, PA systems, CD/DVD duplicators, cassette recorders and more.

As always ground shipping is FREE.  Please visit our education section or call us at 866-926-1669 with any questions.  Thank you! 

Avastor pro AV hard drives picked up another endorsement this month.  AudioGraph International training center, a multi-faceted company based in Santa Monica, CA, uses Avastor drives for all their Pro Tools certification courses.  Visit ProSound News for the complete article.

TDK Medical grade CD-R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM and magneto optical discs are available. TDK announced they were exiting the medical market but there is still PLENTY of media on the shelves. We have TDK medical users stocking up for insurance but right now all products are readily available.

Our FREE SHIPPING applies to TDK medical media (and everything we sell!); please visit the medical section for product details and ordering information.   We also have medial grade media by MAM-A Mitsui, Maxoptix and Verbatim.

Open reel analog tape by RMGI is moving out to studios around the U.S. At Encore Data Products we see the SM900 being the most popular format with 911 a close second.

If you use open reel tape please check out our Audio & Video Tape section for product info. Our Free Shipping can save you a lot, especially on a few reels of 2".  Leader and splice tape are now available too!

Call us at 866-926-1669 if you would like to discuss your recording media needs. 

Save $15 NOW on any order over $175!
Use coupon FIFTEENOFF during checkout.

Here is a Hamilton educational headphone with a great safety feature:  The Guardian series headphone and listening center have red and green LED lights to alert you visually when a student has the volume a little too high.  This is a great way to protect the user's hearing.

The headphone is available alone or in listening centers with 4,6 or 8 headphones.  Ground shipping is free and school purchase orders are welcome!

Please call us at 866-926-1669 or view online at www.encoredataproducts.com for details. 

Part 2:  Hamilton HA-31 Guardian Headphones are a DEAL...not a dud:  Click here. 

Microboards CopyWriter Live CD lets you record live to CD-R with continuous, seamless recording to a 2nd disc when the first one is full.

From Microboards:

"Let CopyWriter Live bring digital quality audio to your church, school, studio, or boardroom! The CopyWriter Live combines the flexibility of cassette tapes with the quality and longevity of CDs, in one low-cost, easy to use unit.

You can record from practically any audio source, including live feed from a microphone, a cassette deck, a mixer, and many others. Make a high quality CD on the first try, every time, or make backup copies of audio or data for long-term storage. You can even span from disc to disc to record non-stop for hours on end. "

 View the complete specs and order here with free shipping.

We might not have the Nintendo Wii available but who cares when all Avastor and Glyph pro AV hard drives ship with free delivery?  These drives are great for anyone recording this holiday season; I'm sure some studios are offering great end-of-year rates!

You can check out our full AV hard drive lines at our hard drives/external storage section. 

We are also seeing demand increase for the Avastor line in areas outside of pro AV.  Government agencies, fire departments and police departments enjoy the quality of the brand along with the portability of the free carrying case.    The Avastor drives are a great selection for all your back up needs.

Time has flown by this year at Encore Data Products; we recently celebrated our first anniversary.  We appreciate all the support and customer loyalty over the past year and we look forward to being your supplier of choice in 2008 and beyond.  Our customers represent a wide variety of industries:  Pro audio and video, medical, education, government, photography, data centers and more.  As our product lines continue to grow we hope to have exactly what you need.  We LOVE suggestions on products and brands not in the store; please email us with any ideas:  sales@encoredataproducts.com

Our current  manufacturer list includes:

Altec Lansing, Audio-technica, Avastor, Buffalo Technologies, Certance, Delkin Devices, Diskology, Emtec, Exabyte, Fujifilm, Gem Sound, Glyph Technologies, G-Tech, Hamilton Buhl, Hosa, HP, IBM, Imation, Iomega, Ion, Kodak, Lacie, MAM-A Mitsui, M-Audio, Maxell, MaxOptix, Maxtor, Memorex, Microboards Technology, Microsoft, Motorola, Plasmon, Primera Technology, Proavio, Quantum, Rimage, RMG International, Rocstor Rocsecure, Samsung, Sandisk, Seagate, Sennheiser, Sling Media, Sony, Sun, Taiyo Yuden, Tandberg Data, TDK, TEAC, Telex, Verbatim Verity Systems, Western Digital, Xerox, Yamaha and Yoggie.  

Today is a great day to read our blog too....there is a one-day sale on now! 

My calendar shows 2007 is almost over and I find that hard to believe.  It looks like many people around here are at home today, probably playing with a new Wii... 

We are offering a FREE 2nd Day air upgrade on all in-stock Glyph hard drive purchases until Friday.  No coupons needed; the freight will be upgraded before shipping.  Please check out our complete Glyph section HERE or visit the Hard Drive section HERE.  

Save on the Glyph GT 062, GT keys, Quad drives, firewire drives and more. 

Encore Data Products new manufacturer news:  We are excited to add the TASCAM line to our growing product mix.  Our top 3 new products include the 2488MKII 24 track hard disk recorder, the CC-222SL combination CD & Cassette Recorder AND the CD-RW900SL professional CD recorder.

Ground shipping is free.  TASCAM has manufactured pro audio products for more than 30 years and have pioneered products in the pro recording industry.

As always ground shipping is FREE! 

Order online today... 

Copy up to 11 blu-ray discs with a stand-alone (no PC required) unit by Verity Systems.

- Fitted with 4x Blu-Ray drives.

- Includes 500Gb hard disc drive and USB.

- 

Units available are 1 to 1 up to 1 to 11!.

Free shipping available on all products.  We have a great selection of recordable blu-ray media as well. 

Our latest manufacturer, Voom Technologies Inc., designs and manufactures state of the art Computer Forensic and Data Backup and Recovery products.  We just added the Voom Shadow II unit. 

"The VOOM Shadow 2 is a patented computer hardware device that is designed to aid the investigation of a computer's hard drive. It provides investigators with read write access from the host computer's perspective, while maintaining the original hard drive unchanged."

Uses
* Preview a drive prior to imaging in the field
* As an investigative tool, boot the suspect client and connect to their network
* Repeatable clean investigation of a suspect computer from the operating system perspective
* Lab tool to view the suspect system again and again, in seconds, without reimaging
* Can use multiple Shadows in a single system to view all hard drives in a single computer safely Enable investigators, juries and judges to see first hand what the suspect sees, without damaging or altering evidence.

Voom also makes an industrial 1 to 8 hard drive duplicator called the SuperDuper.

Please visit our Hard Drive Duplication & Forensics section for details on these and other products.

Now is a great time to buy that Yoggie computer security item that is on your list...we are offering FREE 2 day shipping on a few of the Yoggie items.  This promo is good for the lower 48 states and applies to 4 out of 6 items we offer.  The Yoggie Pico Personal is our most popular item; it has a new part number and we currently have both the original and new part in stock.  The item is the same but the packaging is different.  The new version is called the Gatekeeper Pico, the original is the Pico Personal.  

The latest product is the Yoggie Firestick Pico™ Hardware Firewall

This item is strictly a hardware-based firewall and will be in stock soon! 

Here is a review of the updated Glyph GT062 FireWire hard drive with RAID 1.

 If you have an older version of the Glyph GT 062 please visit this Glyph link for information on upgrading.

 Wondering how many tracks your Glyph hard drive can reliably handle?  Read the well-named Glyph Hard Drive Torture Test! 

 We offer FREE SHIPPING on all Glyph products!

One of the big selling points behind the Glyph brand of products is there fantastic support and service:

We have been BUSY adding more products for schools from Hamilton Electronics.  Headphones, listening centers, PA systems and more...be sure to check out the growing selection.  There have been some price changes for 2008, most of the are price drops!

Free shipping on all Hamilton Buhl items!

We are in the middle of a MAM-A media sale.  Coupon MAMGOLD will get you a discounted price on ALL in stock MAM-A CD-R, DVD-R and DVD+R.  The coupon works on both Gold and Silver media by MAM-A Mitsui.

Start shopping now!  This special runs until Friday. 

The blu-ray format seems to be picking up speed on the recordable side of the business along with blu-ray movies.  We recently added some excellent blu-ray duplicators by Verity Systems; new LOWER pricing was just updated to our store this week.

The Verity duplicators start with a 1 to 1 machine and go up to the 1 to 11 capacity.   These machines handle many formats other than blu-ray:

- Blu-Ray disc duplicator with up to 5 times more storage capacity (25Gb) than standard DVDs (4.7Gb).
- Fitted with 4x Blu-Ray drives.
- Includes 500Gb hard disc drive and USB. - Records 25GB Blu-ray, DVD-R, DVD+R, CD-R, CD-RW 

Be sure to check out our blu-ray duplicator section for all models.  Ground shipping is FREE. 

This just in....we are adding the Califone line of education products.  Headphones, headsets, listening centers, PA sytems, boomboxes, record players and more.

For the next couple of days we are running a sale on all Califone items.  Combined with our free shipping there are some excellent deals in the store!

Looking for Califone products?  Visit our Education Section.

Looking for Califone the band?  Visit here...

We have a decent supply of a MAM-A Mitsui Gold Archival DVD-R at an excellent price.  Part 43439 is a 4X archival gold DVD-R with a white thermal printable surface.  If you can run at 4X speed this is the deal for you with prices as low as $69.99 per 50 pack.

 Limited to stock on hand.

Order HERE. 

Blu-ray, CD and DVD duplicator towers,  disc printers, degaussers and media packaging equipment:  Verity Systems offers a wide selection of durable, quality products and we have them all on sale this weekend!

Now is a great time to buy.

Ground shipping is Free.

Verity Systems 1 to 1 Blu-ray/CD/DVD Power Tower Duplicator

Check out our Verity Systems pages for details. 

Our latest manufacturer is TROY, a manufacturer of Secure toner cartridges. 

From Troy:

TROY MICR Toner Secure™ Cartridges

TROY MICR Toner Secure™ allows users to protect the words and graphics printed.  For MICR applications and other financial documents a new generation of TROY MICR Toner, TROY MICR Toner Secure™, is becoming the new benchmark in anti-fraud check printing.

TROY Security Toner Cartridges

This patented anti-fraud technology forces a bright red stain to appear if chemical alteration is attempted.  For standard applications (i.e. educational transcripts, medical records, legal documents, etc.) TROY Security Toner adds a cost-effective new layer of security to your sensitive documents.

Security printing is a quick-growing market as more companies battle to combat fraud.  These products are a cost-effective way to add extra protection to your sensitive documents.

Visit our  TROY  product selection. 

Our latest manufacturer is TROY, a manufacturer of Secure toner cartridges. 

From Troy:

TROY MICR Toner Secure™ Cartridges

TROY MICR Toner Secure™ allows users to protect the words and graphics printed.  For MICR applications and other financial documents a new generation of TROY MICR Toner, TROY MICR Toner Secure™, is becoming the new benchmark in anti-fraud check printing.

TROY Security Toner Cartridges

This patented anti-fraud techonolgy forces a bright red stain to appear if chemical alteration is attempted.  For standard applications (i.e. educational transcripts, medical records, legal documents, etc.) TROY Security Toner adds a cost-effective new layer of security to your sensitive documents.

Security printing is a quick-growing market as more companies battle to combat fraud.  These products are a cost-effective way to add extra protection to your sensitive documents.

Vist our  TROY  product selection. 

It sort of feels like 1998 around here today with all the calls for open reel analog tape we are receiving.  That is a good thing!  Artists, engineers and producers are tracking and mixing a lot these days to RMG SM900 and SM911 tape.  The demand has recently outstripped the supply but the guys at RMG are working hard to fill all our orders.  More tape is arriving in a few days and product is shipping again. 

Be sure to plan ahead a little for your upcoming analog sessions; the tape is manufactured in The Netherlands and it can take a little time to refill the supply in the U.S. once product sells out.  RMGI has a brief history page on their site if you want to see the timeline.

With the increasing demand for pro analog recording tape the demand for calibration tapes is growing too.  While we do not sell the MRL tapes I checked and confirmed MRL is still making the tapes used by studios around the world to calibrate their machines.

Here are a couple of useful links if you are in need of a new MRL calibration tape:

Magnetic Reference Laboratory

Current manufacturer price list 

We are excited to add Fender Audio products to our growing list of gear.  Their audio line includes portable sound systems, PAs and mixers.

This product line is ideal for bands, churches and schools.  The Fender name means quality and the prices are very competitive.

Check out our Fender Products here.

Looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy-for musician?  Look no further...check out The Musician's Ultimate Joke Book by Kevin M. Mitchell.  I have known Kevin for years and he is one of the funniest people I know; and I know a lot of nuts...  Kevin is an author, musician, band leader based out of the middle coast city of St. Louis.  His book is available in most major book stores and online book shops but if you buy through a fantastic organization LittleKidsRock.org they get a cut of the sale to help fund music in schools.

The Yoggie line has really done well, especially with:

This weekend if you use coupon code YOGGIE10 you can take an extra $10 off each Yoggie item you purchase at Encore Data Products.  Save on Pico Gatekeeper, Gatekeeper Pico Pro, Firestick Pico, SOHO and Gatekeeper PRO.

About Verity Systems:  Verity Systems are expert manufacturers and suppliers of on-demand CD and DVD production equipment. If you're looking for a CD or DVD copier, duplicator or printer - we have systems to suit every application whether you're a small business or a large corporate. We also manufacture a unique and unrivalled range of desktop CD and DVD packaging equipment, degaussers and tape erasers with degaussers to erase data from every type of magnetic media including hard drives, video and audio tapes, reels, DAT, DLT and much more -

Verity Systems provides solutions for:

*  Corporations

* Education

* Home users

* Media production

* Small businesses and more...

 - towers - duplicators - printers - packaging - degaussers -

But the BIG news is right now you can save 10% on all Verity Systems products at Encore Data Products!

This offer is limited so visit us today! 

Verity Systems keeps on expanding their product selection:  We just added their new METEOR USB and SD duplicators.  Available in 1 to 3, 1 to 7 and 1 to 11 capacities the duplicators are fast and DO NOT require a PC connection.

Create your own promotional USB keys to include your company info, product catalog and more.

Free shipping!

If you need the newest and fastest be sure to take a look at the Imation Solid State hard drives.

There are two versions:  MOBI 3000 and PRO 7000.

From Imation:

"Imation Solid State Drives powered by Mtron use industry-leading solid state storage and controller technology to provide an ideal solution for drive-intensive applications. An Imation Solid State Drive (SSD) emulates a hard disk drive (HDD), but has no motors or moving parts, providing faster and more reliable data storage than traditional HDDs and with reduced heat and noise generation."

For a 3000 and 7000 Series Comparison visit Imation here...

Nothing beats a Turtle Case by Perm-A-Store to protect your data during transport and storage.

 Cases are available for DLT, LTO, 4mm, 8mm, 1/2" tape, hard drives, optical discs and more.

One of our newer lines is GMAX Storage Solutions, a manufacturer of "cost-effective, high performance Network and Professional Content Creation Storage Solutions."

Right now Encore is introducing the line with a sale...check out our GMAX vendor page for a coupon code to take an extra 7% off your GMAX purchase total.  Ground shipping is FREE!

Quad drives, RAID systems and more:  You will find fast and affordable pro AV storage products with GMAX.

This is a limited-time offer so act now.  Visit GMAX for product details. 

Glyph Technologies just launched their IMPROVED mini pro hard drive line:  The PortaGig drives have been upgraded to FireWire 800 with USB 2.0.  These are available in both 7200 RPM and 5400 RPM with capacities from 120GB to 250GB.

• Up to 250GB in a tiny enclosure
• 7,200 RPM and 5,400 RPM models available
• Seagate SATA II drives used exclusively
• Weighs less than 10 Ounces
• Tested and approved with Digidesign Pro Tools™ to support over 55 tracks of 24bit / 48k audio, with edits
• Small, portable, aluminum case runs quietly with fanless design
• Applications: Field recording, moving audio, video, graphics, and prepress files
• Includes universal power supply
• Includes carrying case

PortaGig 800 drives are available in 7,200 and 5,400 RPM models. The 5,400 RPM drives are available in higher capacities, while the 7,200 RPM drives have slightly higher performance. All models of the PortaGig perform well in an audio environment, however the 7,200 RPM models have slightly higher track count compared to the 5,400 RPM models due to their higher transfer rates.

I am happy to announce some new LOWER pricing on the Rocstor line.  Right now you can get a 2TB RAID system for $749 with Free Shipping.  Welll....we always offer free shipping but it doesn't hurt to mention it.

* Two (2) hot-swappable hard drives
* Provides Striping Raid 0, Mirroring Raid 1 and Spanning JBOD RAID
* Easy configuration of RAID by simple switch, no IT expertise required
* Simplifies RAID management, no software installation required
* Achieves fastest performance via Striping mode
* Ensures data integrity with redundant backup capability
* Eliminates potential downtime and repair costs due to disk failure
* Supports automatic rebuild in Mirroring mode
* Dissipates heat efficiently with aluminum housing
* Maximizes airflow with quite, high quality fan
* Simplifies HDD installation; user friendly design and effortless hard disk drive hot-swapping
* Supports hot-plug and HDD hot-swap
* Flexible connection via USB 2.0, FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) port
* Mac and PC compatible
* Incorporated SATA Hard Drive
* USB and FireWire 800 (1394b) ports
* Small foot print, 5.8W x 8.7D x 1.6H inches
* Aluminum enclosure allows excellent dissipation of heat
* Silent Fan operation makes this enclosure the quietest.
* Ideal for professionals in high-end video and audio professionals.
* Transfer, backup, exchange or share large files and information.
* Switch configuration (for plug and play)
* Includes all necessary cables and software
* Cross-platform compatibility
* State-of-the-art 3.5" drive mechanism
* Unlimited toll-free telephone tech support

Since we just added new products and pricing for the Rocstor line I thought a coupon might come in handy:  Save $15 on any Rocstor drive in our store with coupon code R529.  This promo will run until April 21st.

Save on Rocstor ROCPORT, ROCRAID, ROCPRO and SMALLROC series of drives.  These drives include FireWire 400, FireWire 800, eSATA, and USB connections and are available in capacities up to 2.0TB.  Visit www.encoredataproducts.com for details.

About Rocstor:

Rocstor is

excellence in storage technology
the most innovative company in data storage and encryption security solutions, specializing in fast, secure storage of digital video, audio, and animation.

the solution for enhanced productivity & profit
Rocstor offers the most extensive range of external desktop and portable hard drives. Our stylish and reliable hard drives are available in FireWire, eSATA, USB or combination interfaces and storage capacities of up to 750GB single drives designed for professionals and consumer market.

Rocstor’s enterprise solution offers the extensive range of desktop and rack mounted RAID storage hardware, at the most competitive prices. Our product line features cutting edge technologies that are tested rigorously and proven for solid reliability.

proactive management
a leading data storage, biometrics devices, data security, and authentication solution provider. Rocstor was founded in 2000 by a team of highly experienced and specialized storage technology professionals. The principals and founders of Rocstor have been active and successful in technology industries for the past 21 years.

With customer service as our main objective, the Rocstor product family provides unequaled power, versatility, and dependability. Our inventory is sold through an expanding group of North American and international distributors and resellers

 Encoredataproducts.com

 
Save $15 on all Rocstor drives with coupon code R529

Sale extended...offer ends April 25th!

View ROCSTOR here... 

Verity Systems is well known for their industrial-grade degaussers:

Hard drives, magnetic tapes and more can be easily erased with a Verity Systems degausser.  From hand-held to CESG approved drawer hardware you will find what you need with a Verity product.

Encore Data Products offers free shipping on all Verity Systems products; this will save you a bunch due to the weight of some degausser products!

Top Seller:  The Verity Systems V91HD/DLT Hard Disc Drive & DLT Eraser:

Here are the latest product additions at Encore Data Products:

CitiDISK HDV by Shining Technology

More great hard drive forensic and duplication products from Voom Technologies

Imation Solid State Hard Drives

Professional Grade Blu-ray with Super Hard Coat Inkjet AND Thermal printable surface from TDK

Verity Systems PUMA thermal inkjet disc printer 

Free Shipping at encoredataproducts.com 

Glyph GT 062 GT0621F-1000 Triple Interface Dual Drive Pro RAID 1TB - GT0621F-1000

FREE Shipping

Retail: $907.00
$665.00
save 27%In Stock

Glyph GT 062 GT0621F-2000 Triple Interface Dual Drive Pro RAID 2.0TB - GT0621F-2000

2TB Pro RAID
FREE Shipping

Retail: $1,816.00
$1,332.00
save 27%In Stock

Glyph GT050 GT050Q1F-500 Quad (FW400/800/USB2.0/eSATA) Tabletop 500GB Drive - GT050Q1F-500

Avastor has just introduced their latest product offering:  The SDX PRO line of hard drives. 

The Avastor SDX Hard Disk Drive is designed to exceed the requirements of the most demanding users. All SDX enclosures use SATA II hard drives which offer a blazing 300MB/s data transfer rate. To ensure that the SDX maintains maximum performance, the SDX power adapter supplies BOTH 5 and 12VDC - a full 3 amps of current. To further enhance the performance and assure compatibility across the wide variety of computer platforms and applications, the SDX uses the Oxford Semiconductor chipset in every FireWire enclosure.

KEY FEATURES
- High power 3 prong AC adapter
- Separate LED indicators for power and drive compatibility
- Ultra quiet fan for maximum heat dissipation
- Brushed and anodized extruded aluminum case
- Includes: Carry Carton, Data Cables, AC adapter and 3-prong power cord

All hard drives are 7200 RPM, SATA II, with up to 32MB Cache

Every SDX is backed by a 2 Year Warranty 

SDX 1000:  eSATA / FireWire 800 / FireWire 400 / USB 2.0

SDX 400:  FireWire 400 / USB 2.0

SDX 200:  USB 2.0

 Right now Save 10% on all in-stock Yoggie products!
Use coupon code Y473.

YOGGIE OVERVIEW:
- The Yoggie Gatekeeper series of products are equipped with 2 Ethernet network interfaces.
- The Yoggie Pico series of products are smaller, USB 2.0 only devices.
- The Yoggie Gatekeeper SOHO can connect to your small office/home network and protect up to 5 computers and is bundled with an external power adapter.

- The Yoggie Gatekeeper / Pico Pro series differ from the Yoggie Gatekeeper / Pico Personal series by 2 features: The Pro includes a VPN client and the option to be remotely centrally managed.

Not sure which Yoggie item is right for you?
View a comparison chart at Yoggie.com

Yoggie offers product support online and by phone. Click HERE

Voom Technologies, a leader in Computer Forensics and Data Backup & Recovery Products, just issued a press release detailing a real-world example of their Shadow II unit in action.

Details:

Minnesota High Tech Company Helps Detectives and Prosecutors Fight Crime and Terrorism
The VOOM Shadow II is instrumental in investigating and convicting criminals and terrorists worldwide, including the recent high‐profile conviction of wife‐murderer Mark Jensen seen on 20/20 & CourtTV.
Voom Technologies, Inc., a high tech company residing along the St. Croix River just outside of St. Paul, MN is gaining worldwide recognition for its Shadow II (Shadow) computer investigation device. Cited by the prosecutors in the Mark Jensen murder trial as critical and powerful, the Shadow enables the direct investigation of a suspect's computer without elaborate computer forensic software or the extensive and expensive forensic software training required. And as demonstrated in the Mark Jensen murder trial, held in Kenosha County Court in Wisconsin, the Shadow enables the prosecution to show the actual suspect PC in operation, without required elaborate explanations to the judge and jury when forensic software is used to produce evidentiary reports. With the Shadow, detectives, private investigators, and computer forensic labs are obtaining computer evidence faster, and using that evidence more effectively than ever before. Prosecutors are getting more plea agreements because defendants must otherwise face the live presentation of their computer in court. And in court, no computer forensic tool is as effective at quickly and intuitively presenting digital evidence in a form that is easy for judge and jury to understand.

One of our newest manufacturers is Falcon Technologies International.  FTI is a leading manufacturer and supplier of optical data storage discs for professional and archival applications.

For a limited time... 

From Falcon:

Schools, churches, government agencies and more...Telex products are found in a wide selection of industries. 

From Telex:

Please visit us at www.encoredataproducts.com for a full selection of AV media and hardware.

Shipping is FREE! 

It is time for a little summer Glyph promotion!  Right now you will receive a FREE GT0501F-250 Hard Drive with any Glyph purchase over $999!

Save on Glyph GT050Q, GT 062 RAID, PortaGig hard drives, GT 205, GT Keys and more!   Hurry...this is a limited-time offer.

Are you an analog tape user?  As a distributor of RMG tape we still see SM900 as the choice for most of our analog users.  911 and 468 seem to be more 1/4" users while the 2" tracking and 1/2" mixing goes to 900.  Obviously this is coming from our little corner of the world; odds are other dealers could be seeing something completely different.  With that said we ship to every state in the U.S.

 
As far as blogs go the Encoredataproducts.com blog is not exactly setting world readership records BUT we do get our share.  Something I like to to is put up blog-only specials to see who is paying attention...

For the next week or so you can use our coupon R6873 to get an extra 7% off all in-stock RMG analog tape! 

Visit our tape section or head to the storefront...enjoy! 

Also...thanks to Tape Op Magazine for the free book!  That was a pleasant surprise.