Thoughts on purchasing distro discs

[techieMoe]

The vast majority of my distributions come from downloaded ISO files that I burn myself. Disc media is so cheap these days (roughly 12 cents USD for a CD and 25 cents USD for a DVD) that it's the most cost effective option for me. That's not to mention the fact that I rarely keep distribution discs around for more than about 6 months so they're a consumable, disposable good.

However from time to time I buy disc sets. Usually it's either because I want a commercial-quality version of a distribution (the SuSE 9.x series) or perhaps just because I don't want to spend the time and effort to download all the discs in a set (Debian).

Ubuntu offers commercial-quality discs of their distribution for free, and I use their Shipit service with every new release. However with the release of Debian 5 I've decided I once again want to purchase a disc set, both to use and just to have handy.

What companies have you all purchased from in the past and what kind of quality of disc do they provide? Screenshots are appreciated. I just want to know what to expect.

My ceiling (including shipping) for the 5-DVD set of Debian 5.0 is $15USD. I've already found at least two US-based sites that offer this price or below, but I'm not sure whether what I'm going to get is any better than what I can burn on my machine at home.

For bonus points, if any of you can direct me to some nice-looking image labels I can use for the Debian 5 discs, I would greatly appreciate it. My wife recently purchased a printer that allows us to print onto CD/DVDs with some pretty impressive results. If I don't end up purchasing a set it would be nice to have a pretty one homemade.

[HROAdmin26]

Tsk, tsk...

Google auto-filled in "debian cd cover" => Artwork

Edit: Some are generic and some have version info. A quick change with Gimp and they can say "5 / Lenny." The CD cover generator is nice.

[techieMoe]

Tsk, tsk...

Google auto-filled in "debian cd cover" => Artwork

Edit: Some are generic and some have version info. A quick change with Gimp and they can say "5 / Lenny." The CD cover generator is nice.

Wow. Cool.

[b2bwild]

I would by prefer to buy if the shop is exactly infront of my home.
or downloading is the best option

[daacosta]

I don't buy discs directly but sometimes I get some via Linux magazines or books. Specifically I have bought a book that uses Xandros and Fedora Core but other than that...

[jayd512]

I ordered a copy of Slack 12 at one point... good quality on the product itself. All frustration was user-based!

[techieMoe]

I ended up printing some discs from one of the sites HRO came up with. Please continue with recommendations on sites I can purchase from however. I never know when I might want a full set of something.

[netstrider]

I've only ever purchased one Linux product or distro and that was Suse 9.3 Pro.

[Roxoff]

Back in the old days, when cd-cookers were > £100 ($150US) I'd buy my Linux disks from a place called The Linux Emporium. They supplied CD-R burned disks, or disks that were labelled 'Cheapbytes' who, it turned out, where an equivalent outfit in the USA.

These were plain white disks with printed writing and sometimes a logo. There are two big drawbacks to buying disks:

1. You end up with lots of disks lying around. I've still got RedHat 6, 7.1/7.2 and 8 disks in my set (although I threw the windows 95/98 disks in the bin a long time ago).

2. Waiting all day for a download in those days was a drawn-out process - but not as long as waiting 3-4 days for your disks to turn up.

The disks used to be cheap though; £2 each or something like that - and they did deals where if your bought so many they'd throw something else in. We'd gang up together at work and spend a fiver each on some disks...