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Disc Writers Now Print the Label Too

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it's-a-bout-time dept.

gardolas writes "Rippers and burners with an eye for design have a new way to smarten their image. Disc writers that can print images onto the label sides of the discs will hit the market next month. The LightScribe system has been developed by Verbatim and HP."

18 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Obvious question, but... by Weaselmancer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...how much extra does the media cost that'll let you write to the label side?

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    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
    1. Re:Obvious question, but... by Blapto · · Score: 5, Informative

      LightScribe blanks will cost more than ordinary discs, but Verbatim says the difference will be less than the price of a sticky label and the ink needed to print on it. But anyone wanting to use the new system will need to buy a LightScribe drive, and that will cost around $200.
      Says the New Scientist article linked to above. So I'd guesstimate that it would be around 50 cents per disk...

    2. Re:Obvious question, but... by zakezuke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Says the New Scientist article linked to above. So I'd guesstimate that it would be around 50 cents per disk...

      Where one can buy a printer like the Epson Stylus R200 and use ink jet printable media. The printer fetches $100 and the printable media 25 cents to 77 cents each plus ink. You can print on regular media but the drytime is 1-7 days and the quality is piss poor. I have only printed 100 DVDs with it so far on one black cartrage. The black cartrage runs about $20 for the Epson or less than half for a generic.

      There is also the Signature Z1 CD/DVD Printer which is a 200dpi thermal ribbon printer that fetches $140 or so. The ribbon fetchs $20 or so which from what i've heard prints on about 200 cds. So about 10cents a piece. This can be cheaper if you buy brand name media like Verbatim.

      LightScribe looks nice, wouldn't run like liquid ink can, and would take up less desktop space but it isn't here yet. At least with the two above options there is a snowball's chance in hell the media will still be around in 5 years.

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  2. That's a good idea by DoorFrame · · Score: 5, Funny

    At last the goatse guy can make an album! I've been waiting for so long. And hell, the hold is already built into the disc!

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    RumorsDaily
    1. Re:That's a good idea by Antonymous+Flower · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'll never hold a CD the same way again..

    2. Re:That's a good idea by Dogtanian · · Score: 5, Funny

      At last the goatse guy can make an album! I've been waiting for so long. And hell, the hold is already built into the disc!

      Want something even worse? Consider what a CD looks like when it's stored in an ordinary (single-CD) case. The part in the centre looks like a puckered... umm... and you have to stick your finger in it to get the CD out.

      I'm listening to nothing but MP3s from now on.

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    3. Re:That's a good idea by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think you and the grandparent poster have just revived the tape back up industry.

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      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  3. Great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now they can nail you for reproducing copyrighted artwork on your CDs full of downloaded music...

    Add another 20 years in the pokey...

  4. Next month? by glenmark · · Score: 3, Informative

    Er, they are already available. I know someone who has one....

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    *** Quantum Mechanics: The Dreams of Which Stuff is Made ***
    1. Re:Next month? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well it was next month, the first time /. ran this story.

  5. Fantastic! by bigtallmofo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This will make it much easier to label the 42 DVD+Rs it takes to back up the home MiniDV digital camcorder videos I store on my computer.

    Now if only they'd do something silly, like agree on future DVD standards that actually might make a removable media device that keeps up with today's hard drive sizes, we'd be set. In the meantime, we now have been spared the torture of printing DVD labels on a separate device. That's something.

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    I'm a big tall mofo.
  6. I can see this looking really dated, really fast by dim5 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I can't watch TV for half an hour without seeing the snowboarding ad showing off LightScribe.

    Sure, it's cool... the first time you see it. But it's all done in one sepia tone. I don't see how the technology could advance to include color using a CDR laser, so prepare to get all the monotone fun you can handle. As soon as a more useful idea for CD labelling comes along, no one will be impressed with LightScribe, and the people that couldn't wait to use it will be embarassed to, because it will have gone from looking "high tech" to very dated.

    Kind of like my Casio wrist camera.

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  7. Re:Needs a built in label scanner.... by renehollan · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Noooo...Need a standard to store the label data on the disk itself, somewhere...

    /me smells patent.

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    You could've hired me.
  8. Message from a beta-tester... by minga · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was a beta tester for the LightScribe program and have one of the external burners. Here are some answers about MY experience.

    1) There are 3 different modes/quality settings for burning the graphic. Good/Better/Best. The "BEST" setting is the darkest, and takes around 45 minutes for a good graphic. Pure text is quicker. And the "good" setting burns really quick with just plain text.

    2) I forget the software provided - but it's a basic label making software package that usually prints on Avery labels. It is pretty powerful and easy to use. Easy to import graphics, manipulate text, etc. Works with any font you have. And even comes with about 30-50 "built in" designs that are soft of cheezy - but look good.

    3) The media is "special". No idea of cost. My big complaint was that the print able service was GOLD. So, the dark didnt show up as well as I had hoped it would. If the top was silver or white it would be alot cooler. Hopefully they figure out a way to do that.

    4) The external burner is either FIREWIRE or USB2. It is a CDRW burner. It is also a 4x (single layer) DVD burner. Mine is external and BLACK - comes with a seperate power supply cord that is nice and small. I never tried it in Linux, sorry.

    5) Right now , the media is CDR only. But when I asked about DVDR media in LightScribe format I was not greeted with "no, way". But instead I was informed that if the media became available during beta testing, they would send it. That sort of tells me its in the works.

    Burning: The only problem I ever had was burning some DVDR images using Nero. I dont know why it didnt work. Got to 99.9% done and never finished. The problem eventually fixed itself. Everything worked perfectly with the provided software.

    Overall (This is what I told HP as well):

    I was happy with the device and would continue to use is AS LONG as the media wasn't TOO pricey.

    The burning of the image takes too long - but for CDs that I REALLY care about - I am willing to wait. But I wouldnt use the fancy light-scribe media for all the crap I burn and only use once or twice.

  9. DUPE by BillsPetMonkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Dupe.

    This only confirms that the finger of this site isn't on the pulse, it's errr ... hidden somewhere else.

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  10. Dupe by AaronStJ · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is a dupe of a dupe

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  11. Removable drives by tepples · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now if only they'd do something silly, like agree on future DVD standards that actually might make a removable media device that keeps up with today's hard drive sizes, we'd be set.

    There are two such standards: "USB hard drive" and "FireWire hard drive".

  12. Sharpie by Preferred+Customer · · Score: 3, Funny

    So I'm thinkin' of makin' a font called "Sharpie" for those who want to do things the long way round.