Product Description

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling is a new technology that offers consumers and businesses a simple, no-hassle way to burn professional, silkscreen-quality labels on their CDs and DVDs. Using the same laser that burns data in their disc drives, customers burn their data as always, flip the disc over, reinsert it into the drive and burn a precise and permanent iridescent label.

Product Details

• Size: 80min
• Color: 30-pack Spindle
• Brand: Verbatim
• Model: 94934
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.50" h x 5.20" w x 5.30" l, 1.15 pounds

Features

• Package includes 30 700 MB recordable data discs
• Print label directly on disc
• Scratch-resistant labels
• Certified for recording speeds 1X to 52X
• Spindle box; Limited lifetime warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
Burn music, digital photo albums, presentations and home movies directly on your CD or DVD, then flip the disc to inscribe your customized label--all with one laser, in one drive! Professional-quality labels achieve laser precision; the level of detail means no more marker scrawl or creating adhesive labels, only to have them peel off the disc. The disc’s image-ready coating is an integral part of its manufacturing process, providing long-lasting, scratch-resistant labels. Labels can be burned wherever and whenever a disc is burned, with no need for a special printer, giving you the freedom to combine text and graphics in labels that reflect your personality and attitude. The discs are certified for recording speeds 1X to 52X, and are covered by the manufacturer's limited lifetime warranty.

Customer Reviews

Great!!!!
I used to mark my disks with glue on labels. Well after making hundreds of labels they all went bad because of the glue, the ink, or the blank media. It took about a year and a half for the disks to go bad. I really did not know what caused it, but they were slowly ruined as if on a time table. They all sounded as if they were off balance when spinning in the drive and the sound would come out all garbled. Thankfully they were all music and not data. Anyways it was a big disappointment for me losing all that music.

So I started over using a "Sharpie" to mark my disks. A Sharpie is a permanent ink marking pen. The disks were pretty boring looking but at least I felt as though I was safe and the disks would last.

Well I bought a HP computer that had the Lightscribe feature. It was an inexpensive add on. I was blown away by the quality of the finished product. I use the Lightscribe software (it cost me $12 but I think I got it at a discount because I bought the computer) that is very easy to use and very versatile. I have made probably 50 disks so far and no two look the same. I can insert my own images or pictures, background or fonts or use the templates that came with the LightScribe Software. The results look fantastic. It takes about 30 minutes to Scribe a disk but all the information is on the disk. A picture of the CD cover or a picture of the artist, all the songs and a beautiful background of my choosing. They can make very professional looking presentations if you are in business, they are not just for music. You can run other applications while you are burning so I really don't mind the time it takes to burn them. I am sure this is a medium that will only get better and better in the next ten years. Color Lightscribe disks are a way off in the future though.

Thanks,

Bill

Easy to make and professional looking
I really must say that these lightscribe enabled discs are great. You really can make professional looking labels easily. (...)

It's super easy to use, just select any image to use as a background, add some text, add some text effects if you want, choose fonts, arrange the layout and burn. It takes about 30-40 minutes to burn a full label (with some text and a full-color image as a background).

The discs have a gold-colored backing that allows for the lightscribe writer to burn an image. The quality is great in that the gray-scale seems to have all shades of gray. You can burn images of people (friends, music singers) and it looks great.

My only wish is that in the future they come out with silver backed discs. Unless of course for some reason the gold-colored backing is a necessity. I would also expect that the time it takes to burn will decrease with future models.

Faint Praise
This would be a wonderful product, except the printing is so faint, at first when you look at a labelled disc, you think you are seeing a blank disk. This is on the burning choice marked "best." I found virtually no difference between choosing "normal" or "best." I did not try "draft."

The idea is great; it is not particularly well executed. Perhaps if there was a greater contrast between the background and the label burned, it would be easier to see.

I used a BenQ 1625 CD/DVD Rewriter with Lightscribe and the burner is great. The label would be wonderful too, if it only were more visible.

I used Nero's latest Lightscribe software and found it difficult and cumbersome to use. One must be willing to spend some time experimenting with this software to make it work and one must expect a fair amount of frustration for what should be a simple task. Nero could have included tool instructions, which are missing and are much needed.

I think this is a great improvement on Sharpies for marking CD/DVD's, but perhaps future generations will improve it.

Generally, it is slow. It took me a little more than 20 minutes to burn the label which consisted only of the Music Artist and the Title of the Album, five words in all. I do not object to the slowness, only that the contrast between label and background is hard to discern. You wait for a product that ultimately disappoints.

I do not object to paying between 57 cents (in quantity) to 80 cents a disc for the Lightscribe media for special albums.

I look forward to improvements in Lightscribe. It is truly a revolutionary idea. It feels as if it were rushed to market a little ahead of its time.

When it is perfected, and I think that will not take much tinkering, everyone who burns will want to have one. Right now it is for early adopters only. However, the burner is fine and improvements in the software and blank media could come at anytime, so you may need nothing more than updated software and a new set of Lightscribe blanks.

Ron Gollobin/Boston