Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Burnt CD shaper

Like a round CD but seagull shaped.
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Now CD writing technology is pretty much everywhere how about a device that allows cutting and shaping CDs down to size, for use in the home.

Many disks have unused space left on them, and this could be a fun way of customising personal music compilations. Different 'stensils' for the machine could be created to produce disks with edges like a circular saw, shaped like a seagull, or even a croissant. The possibilities are only limited by the amount of information on a disk.

Zircon, Feb 02 2002

Oddly shaped examples of promotional CDs http://www.cddigitalcard.com/examples.htm
House, pentagon, seashell, triangle... [StarChaser, Feb 03 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

T@2 CD-R art http://www.yamahamu...tech/discta2_01.asp
Unused data area used for labels or artwork... [urbanmatador, Oct 17 2004]

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       'Stencil'. As long as it's balanced and large enough for the drive to grab it correctly, the shape doesn't really matter. If it's unbalanced, it will quickly destroy your drive.
StarChaser, Feb 02 2002
  

       It would be cool if it worked, but I'm not sure if that is how CDs store data. I was pretty sure there needed to be a sort of ID flag at the beginning and end.   

       Croissant if someone can explain that it could be done.
NeverDie, Feb 02 2002
  

       circular saw would be brilliant though
technobadger, Feb 02 2002
  

       commercially, I'm sure ive seen little 'single' CDs somewhere - so the extra stuff round the outside would be useable for modification.   

       [starchaser] how about a device that modifies the foil on the disk that you don't use rather than the plastic too - you could have disks that are part transparent, whole seethrough seagull flocks wheeling around the outside of your music.
Zircon, Feb 02 2002
  

       I think that you could probaly put simple images on the redundant areas of the CD using the software that controls the CD burner.   

       I've seen something similar done to vinyl where one side of the disk had an image of a triangle and the other (I think) a square. I can't remember whether this was done by messing with the alignment of the groove or the vinyl rising above it, though.
st3f, Feb 02 2002
  

       A year or two ago I saw heart shaped cd for valentines day. How about making a cd player that spins the reading device instead of the disc, then the disc could be any shape.
edski, Feb 02 2002
  

       Zircon, the CD singles have less space on them.   

       Technobadger, there are 'business card' CDs that are flat on two sides and rounded on two ends. <the size of business cards, hold about 200k of data.>   

       As long as the shape is balanced so that when it's spinning, it doesn't wobble, it doesn't matter what it is. CDs are round to allow maximum size and for ease of manufacture. A link appears; on their example page, they have CDs that are 'business card' shaped, house shaped, triangular with rounded corners, rectangular, pentagonal and shaped like the 'Shell' gas logo, which I believe is a scallop shell.
StarChaser, Feb 03 2002
  

       Actually, the disks not only have to balance, but they also have to be accurately centered by a ridge in the player. Most players have ridges for standard and "cd-single" size disks. The business-card CD's work because there's enough material on the "round" part to fit in the player's groove. Were it not for that it would be almost impossible to get the player's spindle through the hole.
supercat, Feb 03 2002
  

       Supercat, note 'and big enough for the drive to grab it correctly' in my first annotation...
StarChaser, Feb 03 2002
  

       Neverdie: CD data is written from the inside out. You can cut down the CD to the point of the end of the data at the outermost end of the spiral track.
jtgd, Jun 04 2002
  

       don't try anything but a standard cd in slot loading drives (a la powerbook, imac). they'll get stuck and void your warranty.   

       as for burning the foil into patterns, yamaha's cdw-f1 does this. linked above...
urbanmatador, Mar 26 2003
  


 

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