what's new in the printing-on-cds world?

[mrtunes]

my last purchase was the HP 5160. the ink situation was far more affordable than the epsons, but i found that any graphics with a lot of detail to them had lines on them. full bleed printing was messy cause you had to manually wipe the corners of the discs off yourself.

have any new printers come out lately? my expectations aren't high because the world is moving far away from spinning storage mediums. i am looking into usb keys as a better form of content delivery now, but have no clue how they can be customized or branded.

[aedipuss]

if you can find usb flash storage that holds a dvd - 4.5GB for under $0.25 please post where i can buy a few thousand. or even a cd - 1gb.


as for cd/dvd printers the choices are getting slimmer, haven't seen any new ones in quite a while.

[hech54]

It may also be because printing pretty pictures on a DVDR or CDR is just plain stupid.....and always was.

[sambat]

The Canon Ip4700 prints CDs.
Note that this is the Canadian version and many Canadian e-tailers simply use US copy and it isn't mentioned in the on line ads.
I see one 'Canadian' on line store that ships from the US - and I suspect it is shipping in the crippled US version.

[yoda313]

It may also be because printing pretty pictures on a DVDR or CDR is just plain stupid.....and always was.

I've started to realize the benefit of my epson r280 photo printing. Its not just printing pictures on printable discs. It's printing track lists that make it shine.

Yes of course I use sharpies for most situations - even on a printable disc. However when you want to burn an audio cd and the label is just a picture you can print the track list so much clearer than you can by handwriting on it. At least in my case

[aedipuss]

my handwriting sucks, and my customers would run away if i didn't use a label printer.

[aedipuss]

speaking of labels and such. giveawayoftheday.com has

Cover Commander - creates professional, custom-designed virtual boxes, books, dvd-boxes, manuals, CD disks, and screenshots. Just a few mouse clicks is all that's necessary to get the job done.

for free today.

[yoda313]

my handwriting sucks, and my customers would run away if i didn't use a label printer.

For me its not necessarily how bad my writing is but how fine a tip you can get on the sharpie. Yes I do have some of the smaller tip ones but you can't seem to get them as small as a pen tip. And I did try those cd writing pens but have given up on them for fear of damaging the discs hence the use of sharpies.

[aedipuss]

my favorite sharpie is the one called "ultra fine point", smallest felt tip marker i've run across. i get them from staples online.

[jman98]

I have a Canon Pixma iP4500 which I use for the job. I like it. But as you have seen, we have a few "Anyone who prints to a disc is an idiot" guys around here. They come out of the woodwork when you ask questions about it. One of the nice things about printing is that even with simple text only it may be more readable than handwriting and you may be able to get more info on the label too. I know of nothing new in the field. Canon printers have to be hacked if you live in the USA. An Epson patent prevents Canon from selling printers in the USA that are ready to print to discs. Also, you have to buy a disc tray on Ebay. Apparently HP licenses the patent from Epson and Canon does not. But I'm pleased with the results I get.

[mediachimp]

Hi,
IMHO the finest CD/DVD printing program out there is "Surething" (www.surething.com). I'ts flexible and easy to use. They have a free trial download and it would be well worth your time to give it a go!
Fred

[mrtunes]

The Canon Ip4700 prints CDs.
Note that this is the Canadian version and many Canadian e-tailers simply use US copy and it isn't mentioned in the on line ads.
I see one 'Canadian' on line store that ships from the US - and I suspect it is shipping in the crippled US version.

hmmm i wonder if this one is good? the price is right for testing out though. who sells it in canada is the question.

thanks for the replies so far. on the subject of people printing on cds in the first place - i'm a musician and i still distribute some of my music on CD. i've never done a professional printing job because some albums i just need to print 20 discs and that's about it.

aedipuss - i did look around once on ebay and i saw you can buy usb keys in bulk, i just have yet to try any purchases of this sort.

[Phlexor]

I have a Canon MP610 and I think Printing on CDs/DVDs is the best thing this multi function printer has.

No more scribbled writing. No more looking for a sharpie that works or has a fine tip that hasn't been ruined.

CD-LabelPrint, the software that comes with Canon printers isn't too hard to use either.

[johns0]

A good old can of spray paint and cutout pattern is what you need.