CD DVD Label Printing - Modern Units Are Faster, Better and Cheaper

DVD label printing is becoming both easier and far more common, now that the digital  industry has realized that desktop users are creating media both at home and at the office, sometimes on quite a small scale, but sometimes in very respectable volumes.

All these new media discs need to be labeled; a CD DVD label printer makes it much easier to organize and archive home collections, and makes business cd and dvd label printing look that much more professional.   

There are many cd label maker and cd label software packages available, with templates that take the worry out of the design part of the labeling work, even if you don't have original artwork and are not very creative.

Smaller corporate users that produce10 times that number probably still would not want to go to the professional disk duplicating companies, but would prefer to do the work in-house and will be able to afford the larger volume machines, where prices will be anything up to $5000 or so.

Better than handwritten scribbles

1. You can print labels directly on to label paper or foil, and then fix the label on to the face of the CD or DVD; 
2. You can print directly on to the face of the disc with an inkjet or a thermal label printer;
3. Or you can go the HP route and use LightScribe technology to etch graphics and text straight on to the disc.

There are some issues with HPs Lightscribe, which needs special high-quality discs, and the technique is probably best for users with quite a lot of technical ability. Printing on to stick-on labels brings its own problems.  

The labels have been known to peel loose and damage the drive, and there can be issues with higher bearing pressures that can also damage a disc drive. But stick-on labels are in widespread use, so the system obviously does work for many thousands of people.

Thermal CD DVD Label Printer 

Your final option of a thermal cd dvd label printer, which uses a ribbon to transfer the text to the face of the disc,  and which works best with labels that have a lot of text and perhaps a logo, but no graphics.  

The less-expensive machines products print in one color only, the most common being black, red, blue or green.

Thermal printers don't need special discs, and will work well on normal CDs or DVDs. The cheaper thermal DVD printers link to your computer via the USB port (there are also a few handheld models) and tend to be one-color only; the price rises quite steeply once you opt for full color.  

These DVD label printers use thin ribbons in various colors that are transferred to the surface of the disc in a process that creates a surface that is both smudge proof and scratch proof.

Brands and products to consider in this area are the CD Dimensions Discprinter, the DiskMakers U-print, the Teac P11, the Brother PT80 and the Casio CW e60, which normally come complete with cables and accessories such as AC mains adapters.

Thanks to the many options available, CD DVD label printing now offers many advantages - good looks, easy archiving and retrieval for the home user, and a much improved corporate image for the business user.