Blank media comes in various types such as CD-R, CD-RW, DVD -/+ R DVD-/+ RW, Dual Layer and so forth. After you have written a Disk, how do you write / print what is on there? This is where the various choices come in.

Pen

CD Pen

This is the cheapest and quickest way to get something on a blank disk as well as been able to buy any media you want but the amount of information and the looks is limited as you can see. For most people, they are happy with this method.

Labels

You would buy a pack of Labels along with an Applicator and basically print the label using the supplied program – the end result you peel off, put on the applicator and press the Media onto this. The problem is normally one of alignment and the sticker not fitting the media, once this is stuck on, there is not second chance. After some time the paper based label can start to come off and even make the disk spin wrong, definitely the most fiddly way t print labels.

Light scribe

LightScribe

Many drives now support writing in this format and basically how it works is that you write the disk as normal, flip the disk over and use the supplied software to print an image. As it is basically removing some of the disk – you get 2 tone images as above and the other aspect is the price of the blanks are more then normal one’s. I have not tried this personally but from what I hear, it is not worth the hassle.

Direct Printing to Media

A Much better idea is to print via the printer onto the media itself and you end of with a blank disk that looks more or less like the real thing. There is no “lining up” of the media, you select the correct tray from the list, pull the flap down (in the case of the Canon) and press print – the results as you can see from the above are very good idea. The price of the “printable” media is not much different from the non-printable and comes in either Silver or White. The Silver gives the end result an almost hologram type look.

Conclusion

Having tried most methods out there to get my media labled throughout the year, the best way I can see is to make sure you buy a printer which can print onto the media direct (as can the Canon IP4200 for example) and buy the blank “printable” media online – seems the shops around here struggle with this concept – even though the sell the printers that do this.