New Tech Means Better Looking CD's and DVD's

You've just spent weeks putting together your favorite vacation or other videos. Or maybe you've created what you think is the greatest music compilation CD of all time. Or you want to add your resume, photos and other information to an audition CD. Or distribute copies of a presentation you've made to a corporate board.

It's occasions like these where grabbing the trusty Sharpie to scribble a title and some information on a burned CD or DVD just isn't enough.

In the past, CD labeling systems usually involved sticky labels and some sort of clumsy application system. If you managed to get the label printed right, getting it applied flat to a CD or DVD wasn't always easy. Then one day in heat or humidity would start to peel the label, which could in turn gum up whatever player tried to digest it.

Fortunately, a new generation of labelers is out there that offers permanence and professional-looking results. If you spend a little time experimenting and trying out different options, you can produce CD's and DVD that have labels worthy of the content inside.

One system that is gaining popularity is LightScribe, developed by HP. LightScribe uses special CD and DVD blanks. After data is burned to the recordable side of the blank, the disc is then flipped over, and the laser is able to burn a silkscreen-style pattern into the LightScribe side of the disc.

The printable side of the disc can contain text, images, designs, or a combination.
For example, you can capture a frame from the video on the disc as a picture, and then add it to the LightScribe label as a background. Add title, date and any other iformation, save the file, and then print the LightScribe label.

Three shades of darkness are available, the longest of which takes 15-30 minutes to produce a completed disc label image. Lighter shades burn faster.

Because of the way LightScribe works, the images and text do not smear or degrade, and there is no ink to buy, only the proper LightScribe blanks.

LightScribe works best with high-contrast black and white images, and most digital photo programs have an option to convert an image to black and white, as well as contrast and brightness controls.

Grayscale images are all that LightScribe can produce, although blanks now come in different background colors to add some variation.

Costs for these blanks have been falling as more manufacturers have started selling LightScribe, to where CD and DVD blanks can be had on sale for as low as 50 cents per piece.

If you don't have a LightScribe drive built into your system (many newer PC's do), fast USB 2.0 external burners are available for as low as $50.

A second system similar to LightScribe is Labelflash. This system also uses a special media to burn text and images to a blue background disc. Because Labelflash isn't as widespread as LightScribe, blanks are harder to find and are more expensive, costing as much as $2. Prices can be expected to fall during 2008 as this newer technology is introduced with more new computers, especially from Gateway.

For those looking for the ultimate results, Espon includes a CD tray and special design and print program with some of its photo and multi-function printers (including the pictured Espon Stylus Photo R280).

Using special printable media, these printers print images and text in full color directly to CD's and DVD's. Epson includes an easy-to-use but powerful design program called Epson Print CD with these printers. The end results are nearly as good, in some cases better, than commercially available CD's and DVD's. Add tray and case inserts and users can produce professional-quality complete packages from a home PC and printer, which cost as little as $100.

Tom Meek is a computer and media consultant working with businesses and individuals on high-tech needs. Another Day In Cyberville is published weekly in print and online via The Gainesville Voice, a weekly publication of The New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. You can reach Tom Meek at adayincyberville@gmail.com.