How much does Kinko's charge?

[AppleQueso]

Well here's hoping I can make due with the self service kiosks so I can avoid the hassle of dealing with that altogether.

Though I have read that many of the locations now don't care what you print so long as you sign a legal waiver for "copyrighted" stuff.

[UncleBob]

Kinko's provides a service, not a product. I'm sure that would factor into it somehow.

Think of it this way - could you go into a recording studio and have them dub 50 copies of a copyrighted CD for you? No - the money is directly being made off someone else's copyrighted material.

And I wouldn't bother with the signed waiver.  If you can't get by with it without the waiver, just shrug your shoulders and try somewhere else.

The problem with a waiver is that you're basically saying that you are the copyright holder or that you have permission from the copyright holder - neither of which is the case (although, I suppose, on some custom covers, there could be some interesting aspects regarding derivative works, etc...).  If something was to *ever* come up in regards to the situation (unlikely, I know, but...) you'd still be on the hook for the legal charges for illegally reproducing copyrighted material, but now you can add fraud to those charges.

Just go in there, print them and see what happens.  I printed covers there twice with no problems before I ran into the Copyright issue.  Then I went to Staples and never looked back.

[AppleQueso]

Well I used the self service station there today, didn't have any trouble with copyrights.

Unfortunately though, they were empty on legal sized paper, and printed everything on letter size. It's not a huge problem, but there's a small area (like less than 1/4") on the front side trimmed off of all my covers.

It's okay though, I was mainly just excited to actually have them printed. I'll go back and re-print them at a later date sometime.

As for that legal thing, I seriously doubt that any company would sue somebody for copying ONE cover obviously intended for personal, non-commercial use. And by "seriously doubt" I mean I'd sooner expect to be held at gunpoint by a talking dog.

[UncleBob]

I *did* say it was unlikely.

[Velmeran]

I've printed all of my covers for 28mm cases at Kinko's, and since running into a snag on my own printer have started printing my 14mm and DS cases there as well.

Always at a self-service machine (the pro one, 'cause it's the only one with Adobe PS and the times I've tried to print outside of Photoshop, the results weren't correct) -- actually the first time I tried to have them print them, but the guy couldn't figure out how to print in landscape on legal paper, so he let me try (on their setup, behind the counter) and then I got yelled at by a different Kinko's employee for being behind the counter, and he told me to go to the self service machines.

Only problem with the self service machines (and specifically the pro ones) is, in addition to paying $.99 a color print (same price for regular or legal paper), you also pay a per minute price (and it's double on the pro machines from the regular ones).

A tip if you'd like to avoid the Kinko's staff peeking over your shoulder all the time; if you have a 24hour Kinkos, go in around 11 on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday night and it's usually dead iwth 1 employee working (who's typically working on overnight orders that need to be finished for early morning pickup and thus will ask if you need help and then leave ya alone). If you go in during busier hours, they've got more staff and usually have at least 1 staff who walks around to "assist" (or in the one case I went at 5:30pm on a monday... annoy the hell out of you by treating you like an idiot who has no idea whatsoever of what your doing).

[AppleQueso]

Yeah, I went in later in the evening, sometime around 7 or so. It was pretty hassle free using the self service machines, and no-one there seemed to bother me.

Next time I go I just hope they actually have legal sized paper in stock.

[sheep2001]

having never been to a kinko's or such like, I don't know if they can print all formats.

but if they can print from powerpoint - a quick tip for you is to import all the covers into a powerpoint presentation and then just print 1 file.

Certainly would make it quicker at your self service kiosk.  I do this to print at work, as i don't have access to photoshop there.

[PDDestro]

It's so strange to me that so many ppl have problems printing DVD covers at these stores using letter sized paper. All you have to do is put the image in landscape mode while making sure to keep the same aspect ratio. When I print it out I do it from the windows image viewer print preview and check off "high quality". The covers fit fine on letter sized paper with like about an inch on top/bottom and about a millimeter or so on each side.

[AppleQueso]

It's so strange to me that so many ppl have problems printing DVD covers at these stores using letter sized paper. All you have to do is put the image in landscape mode while making sure to keep the same aspect ratio. When I print it out I do it from the windows image viewer print preview and check off "high quality". The covers fit fine on letter sized paper with like about an inch on top/bottom and about a millimeter or so on each side.

margins bub. Some printers are really picky about them. If they could print margin less then it wouldn't be a problem at all.

[PDDestro]

"Bub", LOL.   

[PDDestro]

Here are some pics from my crappy old digicam of what the covers look like when I print them out on regular letter sized paper doing what I do:





Notice the aspect ratios are fine without margins going over the paper at all. You just make sure to uncheck "fit picture to frame" in landscape mode in windows picture viewer's print preview and then print.