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Burn the CD on Both Sides
apocal writes "How cool wouldn't it be to be able to burn the label on your cd using the same laser you used to burn the cd in the first place? Well, I guess this technology called LightScribe will be coming soon. 'Suppose you have just created a compilation CD of a dozen or so of your favorite songs. Now you want to make a label that contains the song titles, artists' names, and some personal information and design elements to make it special. First, burn your tracks onto the data side of the disc. Then open your favorite LightScribe-enabled label-making software and go to the CD template work area. Now you do all of your creative design workcompose pictures, copy, artwork whatever. When you are satisfied with what you have done, take the disc out of your drive, flip it over to the label side and put it back in the drive. Now go back to your label-making software, and simply click print.'"
Yamaha came out with something similar back in 2002 called DiscT@2 that let you put text and graphics on the unused portions of the data side. It never really took off.
Someone hopefully will remember the name, but I saw an article on CD Writers which could etch a label onto a disk over a year ago.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
It combines the CD or DVD drive of your computer with specially coated discs and enhanced disc-burning software to produce precise, silkscreen-quality, iridescent labels.
I think I'll pass.
*cough* advert *cough*
This reads more like an advertisement - do you really need to spell out to us a "possible use" for this? Don't think you could have left that up to our imaginations?
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
I know.. Lets try this with a regular cd/dvd, better yet make it dual sided. Hey, at least that coaster will look pretty.
If its priced similarly to your average burner it would be useful for somebody who doesnt have the time to fiddle with a label maker (or for that matter, Sharpie all the cd's in a batch). Hopefully technology like this will gain popularity so the average person can have their own small scale cd factory.
As is, it only does black and white labels. How much harder would it be to extend the process to color labels? I imagine it'd require multiple layers of different coatings to achieve the proper result, plus the use of different lasers, but it shouldn't be impossible.
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
LightScribe is actually an Hewelett Packard product, so the chances of this technology actually being licensed and incorporated in regular disk drives and media is pretty good.
"When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail." - Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
Yeah, this would be cool if you could burn data on both sides. It'd probably cost more though, and the burners might be more expensive. It could even, with a little work, perhaps go up to 3 gigs! Think of the versitility. And it's digital too. We could call it a Digital Versitile Disc.
/vertisement (and isn't even as cool as a double sided CD (they have double sided DVD's, too ))), this is all I've got to say.
As for the product being advertised here (because that's what this is, a
Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
Don't Use Sharpies on CD-R: There is a modest amount of anecdotal evidence that the use of solvent-based ink markers (Sharpies use an alcohol-based ink), particularly on CD-R/RWs without a protective coating and CD-R/RWs kept in a warm to hot environment can lead to long-term penetration of the ink to the data layer with resulting damage to the data.
Remember, there was some rule, stating that your data will always take 100.1% of your available storage space. Now you can encode the remainder using Paperdisk and write it on the surface, then read it back with a common flatbed scanner!
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
Ok, this is annoying. Second advertisement in a row. The question now is: are the editors just slow, or they are getting paid for this?
I am John Hurt.
This should be no match for a regular burner provided with some relevant open source software, and perhaps "special coated discs". After all, it is just patterns.
On a more personal note, I would like to add that this technology would be great to visually keep my porn library in order.
I am guessing that "Using your CD-R drive as a printer" is not covered in your drives repair policy. I would be careful with this, could be difficult to explain if the thing dies after using these labels.
What post? The one you're carrying inside your rusty innards!
Frankly, this is just a gimmick to sell over-priced media to the masses.
If the label is for my own use, I'm quite happy with a marker. It's got to be MUCH quicker and just as effective unless there is a vast assortment of files on the cd -- in which case the surface is too small anyway.
If it is for others, I want full color graphics anyway so why would I use this thing?
Mod me up, mod me down, flame me, praise me -- whatever you do, you help prove I exist...
which side am i going to lay the CD down on now? do i have to stand it on its edge.....?
First, I agree this reads more like an ad. Second, this really cannot be called "news" under any circumstances, let alone on /. -- this was in PC World in *March*: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,114592,t k,wb030804x,00.asp
This is pretty cool but I wonder why it needs a specialized drive to accomplish the job. It'd be awesome if they could just save their label image as an ISO and use any recorder available so as long as you had discs with their special labels. Stuff like this is pretty cool but if it requires buying a new cd/dvd burner I probably won't consider it until I need a new burner.
:)
I'd like to see something like this, or better yet, like DiscT@2 , designed into future disc specifications. Why have labels at all when discs can be usable on both sides and labeled with tattoos such as these? Why suffer a sepperate process to label the discs when they can be labeled as part of the burning process?
While I'm wishing... give me multiple terabytes of storage per side of the disc and make it so both sides of the disc are usable without flipping the disc.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Dupe from 9 months ago! They even have the same CD "Vacation in Hawaii" pictured on both sites.
I thought this article was going to be about burning data on both sides of a CD, instead it's a barely disguised sales pitch.
Does anyone really need laser etched CDs? Can't you just buy a printer that supports direct to CD printing? Probably cheaper, a lot more useful 99% of the time and you can get G04 DVDs with a printable label surface today.
my canon pixma ip4000 (170 euro) can print on Specially coated cd's/dvd's just fine in full color. (printing has not the disadvantages of label that can make the dvd/ high speed cd unstable in the player)
And the same printer can print the inlay for the cover.
Epson also has a range of inktje prints (9000 series) that can print on cd/dvd's.
Why invent something new for something that already exists?
PS, please note that a badly applied label can damage your player, but printing directly on a cd does not have this disadvantage.
Advert or not it's still an interesting technology that will have some application even if it doesnt take off as a comsumer technology.
Small buisness cd duplication anyway ?
Thats where I see this getting used, I hate when we receive software from smaller companies on cdr's with the details jotted on with a pen, id rather like to see a "tattooed" label, god knows those stick on label kits are awful.
Lifesigns: Present Hair: Escaped Age: Increasing
With laser precision, LightScribe delivers a closely controlled quantum of light energy to multiple points on the disc as it spins in the drive.
;)
So I presume, the image on the disk only appears when someone finally observes it, and before, it exists only as a superposition of qpoints..... How Cool it that!
How cool wouldn't it be to be able to burn the label on your cd using the same laser you used to burn the cd in the first place?
That summary was spot on, wow.
you can barely see it, even using the special T@2 CD-Rs that the drives come with. no chance with any normal media. top drives though, even come with 1x constant angular velocity CD-audio mastering mode...
The laser, especially in burning mode, heats the disk up. Therefore it wouldn't be quite cool, but rather hot.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
CDs are for listening to {if they contain music}, or backing up files to. They are not for looking at. DVDs arguably are for looking at, but only with the aid of a device {placeholder for robot joke}. I think I'll stick with my trusty OHP marker, if it's all the same to you guys. I don't need fancy gimmicks. In fact, most of the DVD+RWs I use with my TV recorder are totally unlabelled! I simply write the name of the film on the paper inlay, and never, ever take more than one disc at a time out of its box. For time-shifting regular programmes, I just use the same one disc over and over again ..... I haven't yet run afoul of the limited-write thing.
Of course, if it's something special, then I'll add a self-adhesive paper label, printed separately using a template I knocked up in OpenOffice.org Draw. And given that printing the label is likely to be as expensive as burning the disc, I'm glad it's a separate process as this cuts down on muck-ups.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
How about making this a technology review and also post the competition.
e.g. the one from HP that does the same thing
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
Is the SHARPIE marker safe for writing on CD's?
Sanford has used SHARPIE markers on CDs for years and we have never experienced a problem. We do not believe that the SHARPIE ink can affect these CDs, however we have not performed any long-term laboratory testing to verify this. We have spoken to many major CD manufacturers about this issue. They use the SHARPIE markers on CDs internally as well, and do not believe that the SHARPIE ink will cause any harm to their products.
I picked up some Verbatim discs with a deep blue metallic dye, and the T@2 definitely shows up. It's still completely useless to me, though, since it can't write on the data portion.
The actual drive is one of the best investments I've ever made, though. I've only burnt coasters doing on-the-fly copies from lesser drives.
I've always wished that someone would figure out how to use the DiscT@2 ability for burning pits of arbitrary length and breadth of the CRW-F1 to burn CDVs (CD-sized laserdiscs) -- but even if it's theoretically possible, I doubt it'll ever happen.
You need to buy discs from them. The CDR laser heats up a special paint on the disc and makes it darker. Kinda cool but it won't just work with any CD, and I'm sure the new discs aren't as cheap as plain CDRs, but I don't know for sure. Software...Windows only? Didn't see any info on that...
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Thermal Cd/Dvd printers have been around forever and since this new device uses specially coated discs, you might as well just buy an Epson Printer (with dvd tray) and Inkjet printable discs. You get a printer that can print cds/dvds and (gasp) can print on regular paper. This for the same price as one of these new "laser" burners.
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
... then spend alot of time trying to figure out what is written on the CD...
Seriously, the contrast is so low that i don't really see a point of doing that. And then, this story (referring to Yamaha) was a lready posted here.
http://www.automatiq.se
I wonder if the subscribers can block these ads out?
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
How cool wouldn't it be to be able to burn the label on your cd using the same laser you used to burn the cd in the first place?
Marginally cool. If at all.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
Pay for an ad like everyone else?
As far as extra cost to a drive, I'm sure if it becomes ubiqueous (sp?), there would only be a marginal fee.
I label a lot of CDs that I archive, and it gets to be a pain after a while... I wouldn't mind having clearly labeled discs.
But my concern is the liscensing fee for open source software. On the site, it mentions that there is a fee structure for software. Damn. Why can't a company structure things to make royaltees off the media/drives alone? If they want this to become widespread, they should open up the format to software developers. If I can't use my higher priced drives/media in my OS with software that I can trust, I don't want it. That may be this technologies downfall.
Of course, I don't know the details of that liscensing structure, so maybe it is freely possible.
This amazing technology is the no-hassle way to create awesome-looking labels for all your music mix CDs, digital video or photo archives, and for any business application. And they're labels that last and last. The sky's the limit in designing and producing labels that express your creativity and personality.
...
If you look at the "who is licensed?" page at http://lightscribe.com/whoislicensed.aspx You can see that many major companies, already has licensed the technology so I can already see this becoming some sort of standard. At least when major software, hardware and media companies like Ahead (Nero)/Cyberlink/Intervideo (software), Memorex/TDK (media), Toshiba/Philips/Hitachi (hardware) support them. No, I'm not working for any of them, just stating that when some of the major companies in the industry support something it usually becomes a standard sooner or later.
Anyway, a Sharpie is a permanent marker and here is the website:
http://www.sharpie.com
http://www.switch2firefox.com/
Let me burn data on both sides and I'll be impressed.
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"And we have a photo finish...and the second horse won by a quantum!"
"No fair, you changed the results by looking at them!"
Frankly I would rather have two sides of music than one side of music and a pretty label on the other.
I drink bottled water because it tastes better. I don't know what makes this 'trendy' either. Healthy lifestyle? For all you know i use this to mix my alcohol with. And since it's about 30 eurocents for 2 liter of water, i can't say it's a way to show off with my money.
I've been putting data on both sides of my disks for years. All it took was a hole punch. /shows his age.
I'ts a duplicate advertisement!!! NOOOOOO!!! How can the special readers protect their eyes from all that damage coming their way?!?! In order to survive this awful deja vu, they need to submit angry reply and re-configure their FireFox AdBlock software to block all the new stories from slashdot!!!
How can this world be so cruel?????
(Seriously, I enjoyed this article, and there is NO FREE LUNCH!)
Do they have also non-regular-shaped discs for visiting cards?
love slashdot. populate it. use it. abuse it. hate it. kill it. miss it. stop following links, they only kill servers.
I like this idea. I like the idea that I'll be able to burn a CD, flip it over and burn a nice label, albeit in monochrome. It isn't exactly an amazing idea, coat the disc in an ink that reacts to the laser light in a CDR drive.
I don't have an inkjet printer, I don't care about having full colour labels either. But it is nice if it looks neater than a CD/DVD pen in my handwriting.
For a couple of cents per disc, it is fine. Especially on DVD media and next generation media, and decent current media.
I can understand the "special" discs with the reactive coating and all, but according to their site, you also need a "special" CD/DVD burner as well.
This also if the label-side coating is heat-reactive, what happens if the CD/DVD gets near a heat source that isn't hot enough to "damage" the disc, but hot enough to "affect" the labeling? Is this an issue?
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
This is somehow newsworthy? There are a number of ink-jet printers out there that are modifications to existing HP and Epson priters that allow you to put a CD in a specific CD-sized tray to print directly to the disc. The only requirement is that you use discs with printable surfaces. Otherwise, it's an ink-jet printer. So, you get full color and the ability to use relatively inexpensive inks (refills, anyone?) with out the costs of proprietary software or hardware, toner, or other kind of inks.
... er ... article is that somehow the disc is not professional unless it has its text directly embedded onto the disc. Don't be ridiculous. I've been using full-coverage labels for my CDs for years and no one has ever complained about "unprofessionalism".
And seriously, folks, is it that difficult or embarassing to use a Stomper or similar disc labeling tool? The implication that I read from this advertisment
Sheesh. All of this time I thought that I was buying CDs for their content. I guess that everyone else was more concerned about the professionalism of the disc top.
The Overrated mod is for reversing inappropriate, positive mods, not for voicing disagreement with a post.
This is the only CD printer I've ever needed: $2 CD printer
Does anyone actually burn only 10 songs in .wav format on a CD any more? Can I get you to make me some 8-track tapes? The future is here now, and it means burning hundred of mp3's on a CD or thousands of songs on a DVD. I guess the label burning is interesting, but there's no room to fit all the song titles.
I file my discs in binders due to overwhelming volume (if I put them in jewel cases I'd need a warehouse).
With that many discs, even with an inventory system to get you to the right binder, you still need labels of some kind to help.
I like stickers. I know a lot of people say they cause playback trouble, but I haven't seen it. I've gone through several thousand stickers over many years, and I haven't really had any trouble that I could relate to putting a sticker on.
Stickers cost 7 cents each at Sam's club, plus about 1 cent for ink if you're refilling ink carts instead of paying the silly amount the mfgs want for their carts. You get full color labels then instead of this goofy thing.
What are the pieces I need to make LightScribe work?
LightScribe technology consists of three components: a LightScribe-enabled disc drive, LightScribe-enabled discs, and supporting software.
I wonder how much it will all cost, however. You will have to purchase a new burner (and for now, its CDR only, from what I read, which means a seperate DVD burner and CDR burner). Secondly, you have to purchase new media. Not just any CDR, and I wonder how much the media will cost to have the special coating that allows this to work?
Next is the software. No mention on whether the software is free or what...
But even at that, its really neat stuff. They claim in the FAQ that this is designed to add "only a few dollars to the price of a computer and a few pennies to the price of disc media" but in the long run, they say that ulitmate pricing is up to the vendor of the media or hardware...
Personally, I will probably be in line to pick one of these things up, just because they are hella cool, BUT if the price is too steep, just remember this:
Sharpies only cost about $1.29 and tax.
"Our funds have never taken part in toxic or death spiral convertible financings of any sort" -BayStar's managing partne
This isn't cool. This is just misapplication of technology.
When I've burned the data to the disc using the data-burn laser, I place it in the inkjet printer to create a human-readable cover. In full color, at that, something I highly doubt the data-writing laser is capable of.
Again: If I want text on the disc, I don't flip it over to burn the other side too, I place it in the goddamn printer and put ink on it.
Keep It Simple, Stupid. Why does that have to be so hard?
How cool wouldn't it be to be able to burn the label on your cd using the same laser you used to burn the cd in the first place?
I don't know... not very cool at all?
Though I don't know why you would be writing an article about a sucky technology. Do you know?
You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
it will not last the night
For everyone grumbling about buying a "special" media to enable this capability... WTF? As though you have some huge investment in blank media that you have to write off as obsolete? My guess is that LightScribe will be licensed to major media manufacturers at no more than a few cents a unit and the media will be marketed as "LightScribe-enabled" at a slight premium. It'll just become part of the normal manufacturing process. And after the whole DVD-R vs. DVD+R battle, this would seem to be a pretty trivial development with respect to industry standards.
Here it states that HP made this technology- and this article was posted in March! http://www.cdrfaq.org/faq02.html#S2-42
n dex.html0 622/etc_disctat2.html
Subject: [2-42] Can I draw pictures on a disc with the recording laser?
(2004/03/09)
If you've ever looked at a recorded CD-R, you've probably noticed that the recorded and unrecorded areas have a different appearance. This is usually visible as a slight change in color. By controlling the write laser it's possible to mark the disc in a way that is meaningful to the human eye rather than to a CD player. Unfortunately, the level of control required to do this isn't achievable without firmware support.
In mid-2002, Yamaha announced "DiscT@2" (disc tattoo). This allows moderate-resolution (approx. 250dpi) graphics to be drawn in the parts of the disc that weren't recorded. Yamaha claims to get 256 shades of color (green, blue, or whatever color the disc happens to be), though it works best on dark blue azo discs. For more details and some pictures, see:
*
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/02q3/020927/i
*
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/2002
Yamaha left the consumer CD recording market in February 2003, and the technology quietly disappeared.
In March 2004, HP announced a different idea: flip the disc over, and burn a design on the label side. This requires a modified drive and special media, but offers the possibility of high-resolution labeling without ink or adhesive labels. The technology, dubbed "LightScribe", is described on http://www.lightscribe.com/.
-M
when you see the word 'Linux', drink!
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't the recording surface very close to the top of the disk. Meaning when you scratch the top of the disk, it damages the recording surface. This is the impression I had, and if this is the case, it seems advantageous to have a paper label affixed to the disk. It seems like the paper provides an extra layer of protection.
A few years ago, I read about some blinded taste tests of popular bottled waters and water from other sources. The results? The number one best tasting water...New York City tap water. ;)
Also, studies by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) found that bottled waters tended to be less safe from a microbiological-purity standpoint. You can read more in a Scientific Amierican artlcle here
Or, buy plain old / regular CDR's, DVR's, etc, some adhesive labels and a stomper to apply them. Why do I need a special drive and special disks, again?
need to buy twice as many now.
Is the side with the text facing up?
(I'd hate to take that call.)
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There is a modest amount of anecdotal evidence that a "modest amount of anecdotal evidence" means pretty much jack shit.
But why, if you've got a CD-rack you can just use a dual-disc case and use two discs.
:-)
There's a slight convenience in that can fit the single disc into your CD-folder instead of taking up two spaces. With a dual-sided disc you wouldn't be able to label well it since both sides=data, more easily scratched, and you still can only read/write a single side at a time. So basically you don't get 1.4 GB, you get 2 discs in 1.
If you've ever seen those movie DVD's that are dual-sided, they're a pain. Yes, they tend to have labels on the shiney band near the center, but you have to squint to read it. For a home DVD you probably wouldn't have so much luck putting a description in that band.
Wow... I've really written on about nothing. I wasn't trying to know your idea - it occurred to me once too and then I thought of all these reasons why it probably isn't done
I haven't actually seen the epsons that do this yet either, but does anyone know if any other manufacturers are releasing such printers? Also, what's the price difference for a "coated" disc.
While one can burn oodles with a box of cheap discs, the more expensive ones do work/last better (some DVD players definately don't like the cheap discs, where they're fine with my more expensive ones) - but for 25c/disc I'd consider it worthy of buying a coated disc for those burns that I deem "permanent"
Why burn just a label? If the laser can burn pits with optically different properties from the untouched label, without affecting the optical pattern of pits on the other, "data" side, how about letting us burn another CD on the label? I want a 1.6GB CD, and then a double-sided laser head so I don't have to flip it!
--
make install -not war
...and if you can fit your hand in the slot, you have a cheap and easy tattoo solution.
There's no place like
To use the r200 you must buy the special printable media. It works very well on the printable CD's, they impress clients, and they are not too expencive. If you do not buy the special media the ink will smear as it it has not dried (even an hour later).
Currently the printable CDs are not pricey but are much harder to find.
Printable DVDs are not easy to find unless you order them on the web.
I have not tried printing a CD after refilling the ink. (generic ink may not work)
It does take longer to print a CD than it does to print a sheet of paper. When I find out if it works after a refill, I will write a review
Easier to just stick the CD in a printer.
... use the DiscT@2 ability for burning its of rbitrary length and breadth of the CRW-F1 to burn CDVs [cs.tut.fi] (CD-sized laserdiscs)
CD sized laserdiscs? Aren't laserdiscs simply 12" sized CDs?
"This is Zombo Com, and welcome to you who have come to Zombo Com" - www.zombo.com
As someone already pointed out, this hit /. 9 months ago. At the time, I said "hmmm." 9 months later it's just an ad.
However, I like the look of inket-direct-on-cd printing better anyways for most uses.
The "look" of this method of printing is artisticly interesting. If I were an artist who was enamored with that particular look, I might buy one for that purpose alone. But I'm not, so I won't.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
People who produce large numbers of CUSTOM CDs will love this. Right now the cheapest way to automate the production of such CDs and print the identifying information on them is to use a robotic contraption with 2 CDs and an expensive disk printer. Such a device costs $2500, minimum (excluding mickey-mouse versions that don't work well).
And at that price range, the ink is water-soluble and will smear if it gets wet.
I imagine that they will partner with a burning software company to make printing the labels easy. My handwriting is so bad that I would gladly pay a bit extra to be able to type in my CD labels without having to go to any extra effort.
And then there are people who do backups on CD, who constantly run the risk of mislabeling CDs as they come out of the burner.
IMHO, very few people care about pretty color graphics - they just want legible, permanent printing at the lowest possible cost
New Web Cartoon: Jendini.com
We keep telling you... The label/sticker HAS TO BE small than the DVD itself (and you can't cover the hole). Jeesh!
CD sized laserdiscs? Aren't laserdiscs simply 12" sized CDs?
Laserdiscs are analogue encoded, CDs are digital.
The need to purchase special media is actually a plus in my book. AFAIK, this will be the first labelling solution for optical discs that was actually designed by people who have to make optical discs work correctly. No spin imbalance due to "painting" on only parts of the disc, no chemicals leaching through to the other side, etc. If I can make a lovely graphical label without worrying that it will decrease the odds the disc will be readable in 5 years, that will likely be worth a modest price penalty in media to me. At this point, there is still no word on what the price penalty will actually be for a drive or for the media.
The real disadvantages are: quite slow to burn (think 20 minutes for a complex graphic) that high-res image, and only monochrome. So, if you sell software, don't think this is going to be a neat way of producing labels for shipped product.
What it will be really cool for is things like handing a home movie DVD to your inlaws with a picture of their grandson burned on the disc. For casual writing, I'll still use a special felt pen. For high-value discs that I'm going to bother to make a custom jewel case jacket for, I'm definitely looking to Lightscribe as my on-disc labelling solution.
If a special coating is used on the disks for this burner, then when you burn text and graphics to it, you're etching off parts of the label. I have to wonder how this affects the weight distribution across the surface area of the disk. At best, this could cause tracking/sampling errors
Paper labels are much worse... because the adhesive backing is often unevenly distributed. Additionally, I cringe whenever someone puts a paper label disc into a slot-loading player, in the fear that any wear on the adhesive might cause a lip off the label to come loose and gum up your hardware.
The best recommendation is to use a very soft-tipped permanent marker... Any harder pen on the label side of the disc can lead to wear that causes those ugly perforations in the metal playback surface because of oxidization.
If you have a professional need for labeling relatively low quantities... most probably using duplication (i.e. burned copies made from a CD-R) instead of high-volume replication (i.e. pressings made from a "glass" master) then use a manufacturer who does direct thermal transfer on clear or white-coated stock.
So how long does it take for lightscribe labels to fade if left in the sun?
Optical media needs to take a page from photographic developing's playbook, and I've said this for years. The problem with CD-R longevity is that the media is still photosensitive for as long as the disc lasts. It degrades from ambient light.
I'd love to see a disc with a semiporous substrate, and a box of "fixer" chemical that I could set it in for a few minutes after the burn. Either that, or another wavelength of light that would chemically convert the dye into a state where the markings would be permanent.
Industrial chemists, I'm talking to you. Reduce the solid waste stream by removing my need to re-burn old discs every year or two.
(Magneto-optical discs don't have this problem, as they're really magnetic recording. Reading is done with a laser, and writing is done with the aid of heat from a laser, but the actual bit-flipping is magnetic.)
You can't do this with just any burner. It also sounds like you might need special disks.
Your LightScribe-enabled CD/DVD disc drive contains a special laser that pumps light energy into a thin dye coating on the label side of the disc.
Seriously, who would buy proprietary discs, proprietary software, AND a proprietary burner, just to avoid buying a 50 cent sharpie?
Now LightScribe needs to eliminate the step of flipping the disk over. Then they need to integrate the labelling process with the burning process, so it's seamless - run the app and you get a recorded, labelled disk. Then they'll get consumer acceptance.
...you risk looking like a fool.
Phones and TV were written off as gimmicks. Later some argued non-VHS/VHSc camcorders would die off becasue they used different media than the most common VCRs. There were good arguments made for those cases, but those who made bold statements without a good arumgnet ended up looking pretty foolish.
But no, I firmly believe this won't find a niche. Most people wanting blank media just want them at absolutely the lowest cost possible...
Well, I guess I'm not most people, but I'm sure many people out there do NOT want to trust important data, precious photos, etc to the abolutely lowest cost media available.
The Yamaha one wasn't much more than an interesting gimmick
IIRC the Yamaha system burnt images on the same side as the data, reducing the usable capacity of the media. If you wanted a detailed, full sized image your disc would be about as useful as an old AOL trialware CD. Is it no wonder this was a gimmick?
BTW: The latest Epsons print directly onto coated CD/DVDs with no sticky label and no stomper
What if you already have a perfectly good HP or Canon printer and you think Epson printers kinda stink? Even if they don't, I wouldn't be motivated to replace my printer or add a second one to clutter my office just so I can print right onto a CD. Presumably, this labelling technology could be incorporated into a drive costing 1/2 the price of the cheapest inject printers. Also, the disc will cost maybe 2 cents more? Probably costs more than that per CD to use ink that the Epson would need (at least for ink that won't smudge if you accidentally sneeze on it). I'm betting the injet method is slower too. I'd say the only issue to ponder would be colour--but I can count on one hand how many times I really wanted to print ANYTHING in colour, much less a CD label.
Given that I don't need ink or toner, the drives and media will be nearly the same cost as now and available from multiple vendors and the media will have the same capacity and speed as always that it stands a good chance of doing well in the market.
Anyone have a price for the CD blanks?
I got sucked into the DVD Double Layer hype.
Not readily available and if you find them, the price is rediculous.
Proprietary crap.
About like the 20 dollar printer with the 200 dollar cartridge.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
I've seen printed paper labels lift the data surface right off the top of a burned CD. So now I stay away from them.
If you look closely at the bottom side of a CD, there is a noticeable 3.5cm diameter ring that protrudes slightly from the surface of the disc. I wonder how critical this ring is in keeping the disk centered. I wonder if any compensation is required when mounting the CD upside down?
I beta tested the lightscribe drive and it was pretty cool. Everything is in a monotone goldish color but the results were great. They gave me the drive, a HP DVD/RW, which was cool and some media. They did not tell us how expensive the media would be but I told them that the media price would mean everything.
BTW: I haven't used it since beta testing.
Well... I personally think this is a cool idea. However, I am not sure about the cost. I'm just thankful I'm not an early adopter...
I plan to wait to purchase this product until it is more common and less expensive.
why, it wouldn't be cool at all!
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
I forgot to flip the CD! Now there's writing on the data side.... *scowl*
Double-sided double-density (DS-DD) 5.25" disks were 360kB, at least on MS-DOS. So SS-DD would be 130kB or so, etc. High-density (HD) 5.25" disks were 1.2MB, while DD 3.5"s were 720kB (800kB on Macs, I think), and, as we still remember today, HD 3.5"s are 1.44MB (yeah, I know you can format them up to 1.6MB, etc.). A little later than what you're talking about, they had hole-punching devices to make 720kB disks masquerade as 1.44MB disks (HD 3.5" disks have a hole opposite the write protect notch, while DD disks did not).
I know I saw this over a year ago somewhere. The idea has been out for a long time.
That is why I bought a Cannon printer
I've been looking at them. When my old HP 722 dies, that's probably what I'll get. The 722 uses a somewhat affordable cartridge. It's physicaly the same size as the cart that fits the 950 printer. They even interchange mechanicaly, but not electricaly. A twin pack of color ink for the 722 is near $40. A single color cart for the 950 is about $60. The 950 sits on a shelf and gathers dust. The Laserjet III get the most use. It uses a $35 cart that I change about once every 18 months.
The truth shall set you free!
Did anyone else notice the picture in the upper-right-hand corner of this page http://lightscribe.com/howlightscribeworks.aspx? What's up with the kid and some guy (presumably his father) playing with PS1/2 controllers? Are they saying you can rip PS2 games, burn them, and then label your stash of w4R3z with their new technology? Now, giving them the benefit of the doubt, they are using their PS1/2 controllers to ...gosh, I really can't think of a legitimate reason for this picture.
"Hey, Bob. Put some technology related pictures on this web page."
http://www.bynarystudio.com