Is there a curse on Lightscribe disks?

[W1GUH]

First of all, I cannot find anywhere that has them in stock. Then, Best Buy said they had 'em downtown, so I went down, and nope, no Lightscribe disks.

So I ordered a couple of spindles. The order came back that I could pick them up at the closest store. But then, I got an email saying no, that store doesn't have any and to call their toll free number. But their software had screwed-up and forget to check availability. Just before ordering I checked online and no, that store didn't have them...the WTF? had started.

So I called, and they were in the middle of "technical problems." The audio for four different agents was all muffled and difficult to understand, but I finally, with much patience, got the order changed to ship them to me.

Series of screw-ups! Best Buy has been darn good in this respect for a long time. ????

Oh, and BTW, a couple of agents I hung up on were brain dead. They asked me what I ordered and I said "A couple spindles of blank CD's" BOTH OF THEM asked, "Is that for a compter?" Cheesh!!!

What the freaK? Why the hell are Lightscribe disks so difficult to obtain? I'm almost expecting to get another email saying that they're no longer available.

[KG4CGC]

First of all, I cannot find anywhere that has them in stock. Then, Best Buy said they had 'em downtown, so I went down, and nope, no Lightscribe disks.

So I ordered a couple of spindles. The order came back that I could pick them up at the closest store. But then, I got an email saying no, that store doesn't have any and to call their toll free number. But their software had screwed-up and forget to check availability. Just before ordering I checked online and no, that store didn't have them...the WTF? had started.

So I called, and they were in the middle of "technical problems." The audio for four different agents was all muffled and difficult to understand, but I finally, with much patience, got the order changed to ship them to me.

Series of screw-ups! Best Buy has been darn good in this respect for a long time. ????

Oh, and BTW, a couple of agents I hung up on were brain dead. They asked me what I ordered and I said "A couple spindles of blank CD's" BOTH OF THEM asked, "Is that for a compter?" Cheesh!!!

What the freaK? Why the hell are Lightscribe disks so difficult to obtain? I'm almost expecting to get another email saying that they're no longer available.
Have you checked any office supply shops?

[KG4CGC]

Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alightscribe+discs&keywords=lightscribe+discs&ie=UTF8&qid=1328675441

[W1GUH]

Yep. I've stopped in every shop I've passed that may have blank CD's. Seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth. And now this difficult process of ordering them. There's gotta be curse!

[W1GUH]

Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=a9_sc_1?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alightscribe+discs&keywords=lightscribe+discs&ie=UTF8&qid=1328675441

But didn't want to order. Well, if this order screws up again, I'll cancel and try Amazon.

[n2ize]

From what I gather lightscribe is still alive but it hasn't really taken off in any big way. Some of the complaints I have seen are "too expensive", "too slow". Generally if a product doesn't roll off the shelves fast enough retailers will either pull it or limit their stock, or slow to re-order, etc.. That means your best bet will probably be ordering online.

Just curious, does lightscribe do colour graphics ? Can I print a colour image on a disc ?

[KG4CGC]

Just curious, does lightscribe do colour graphics ? Can I print a colour image on a disc ?
Backgrounds now come in a few COLORS but printing is still monochrome. A COLOR image? It will come out monochrome.

[KC2UGV]

Problem with LightScribe is that HP is charging way too much in licensing fees. In a cut-throat OEM market, even $1/unit is far too high.

[n2ize]

Backgrounds now come in a few COLORS but printing is still monochrome. A COLOR image? It will come out monochrome.

Ahhh... if it could do colour I might have an interest. For now I'll stick to my black magic marker.

[n2ize]

Problem with LightScribe is that HP is charging way too much in licensing fees. In a cut-throat OEM market, even $1/unit is far too high.

Also curious, can they work with Linux ? Or are they a Windows only lock ?

[KC2UGV]

Also curious, can they work with Linux ? Or are they a Windows only lock ?

There's some Linux drivers out there (I think HP released a source package, maybe a binary blob). But the license fee is on the device printing the disc image.

If HP was smart, they'd put a cheap (If any) fee on the writers, and charge for the discs.

[KG4CGC]

Ahhh... if it could do colour I might have an interest. For now I'll stick to my black magic marker.

You can do any COLOR you want with a professional disc printing set up like the record companies use.

[kf0rt]

If I'm not mistaken, the pros use silk screening. (And the disks are pressed, not burned.)

One other reason the lightscribe stuff might be less common is that a number of the "inexpensive" inkjet printers these days have CD drawers. Use the white printable disks and you can print whatever you want in full color.

[KG4CGC]

If I'm not mistaken, the pros use silk screening. (And the disks are pressed, not burned.)

One other reason the lightscribe stuff might be less common is that a number of the "inexpensive" inkjet printers these days have CD drawers. Use the white printable disks and you can print whatever you want in full color.
Must
Have

[kf0rt]

Must
Have

I got an Epson "Artisan 835" last summer to replace an old HP - Best Buy had it on sale for $170. This thing does just about everything I can think of. Scans, scans to PDF, automatic document feeder, prints double-sided, fax machine, etc. Has the CD thingy, but I've never tried it. Will give that a shot for an upcoming project in a few weeks -- I usually print on labels and stick the labels to the disk, but that always has sucked a bit.

[K7SGJ]

I got an Epson "Artisan 835" last summer to replace an old HP - Best Buy had it on sale for $170. This thing does just about everything I can think of. Scans, scans to PDF, automatic document feeder, prints double-sided, fax machine, etc. Has the CD thingy, but I've never tried it. Will give that a shot for an upcoming project in a few weeks -- I usually print on labels and stick the labels to the disk, but that always has sucked a bit.

I use to do the stick on labels, but with the higher speeds, I've had them wobble so badly they came off the hub and destroyed themselves and the drive. Now I do Lightscribe, labelflash, the disk printer, or the good ol magic marker.

[kf0rt]

I use to do the stick on labels, but with the higher speeds, I've had them wobble so badly they came off the hub and destroyed themselves and the drive. Now I do Lightscribe, labelflash, the disk printer, or the good ol magic marker.

Haven't had the wobble problem (yet), but the labels are just a PITA to use. Sharpies work for me unless it has to "look nice." Still burn a fair number of disks at work (burning one now). I use a sharpie for the "master" and that gets copied to a disk duplicator (desktop "robot" with two DVD drives). It has a built-in inkjet printer just for the printable disks. We've never had a complaint on the printable disks.

[W1GUH]

Got an email from Best Buy saying the shipment is on its way to me, and included a tracking number. So...if I get them on time, guess the curse has been lifted? That comment wasn't about the unavailabilty, but about series of snafus that happened. Ah, well..probably history now.

John, Charles' comments about what Lightscribe can and can't do are exactly right. Images are monochrome. Yea, I know...bummer.

But couple that with...

Both stick on labels and inkjet printing have the same problem. The printing smears with moisture. Inkjet printing is not permanent.

Those two facts add up to...if you want a professional looking CD you HAVE to use lightscribe, unless you can do laser printing or silk-screening. Sharpies are great for casual labeling...do it all the time. But when I do transcriptions from vinyl...I need something more. And Lightscribe is so far the only method to get what I want.

And, yea, it takes a loooong time to "print" to the CD. Fact of life I gotta accept. If ya can't do what's "Best", do what you can! My ham radio motto forever.

And about those stick-on labels. Back in the late 90's I'm sure I read on a pack of blank CD's NOT to use them. And that proved correct in practice. I got a CD with a stick-on label & it wouldn't play in any CD player except the heavy-duty one I used in the studio. WAY too much wobble. Methinks heavy $$$$ pressure was put on the blank CD manufacturers to squash this. Dunno, really, obviously, but they DO screw up playback. And even if they DO play, it doesn't take rocket science to figure out it's probably putting lots of extra stress on the player. YMMV, I guess.

[kf0rt]

Got an email from Best Buy saying the shipment is on its way to me, and included a tracking number. So...if I get them on time, guess the curse has been lifted? That comment wasn't about the unavailabilty, but about series of snafus that happened. Ah, well..probably history now.

John, Charles' comments about what Lightscribe can and can't do are exactly right. Images are monochrome. Yea, I know...bummer.

But couple that with...

Both stick on labels and inkjet printing have the same problem. The printing smears with moisture. Inkjet printing is not permanent.

Those two facts add up to...if you want a professional looking CD you HAVE to use lightscribe, unless you can do laser printing or silk-screening. Sharpies are great for casual labeling...do it all the time. But when I do transcriptions from vinyl...I need something more. And Lightscribe is so far the only method to get what I want.

And, yea, it takes a loooong time to "print" to the CD. Fact of life I gotta accept. If ya can't do what's "Best", do what you can! My ham radio motto forever.

And about those stick-on labels. Back in the late 90's I'm sure I read on a pack of blank CD's NOT to use them. And that proved correct in practice. I got a CD with a stick-on label & it wouldn't play in any CD player except the heavy-duty one I used in the studio. WAY too much wobble. Methinks heavy $$$$ pressure was put on the blank CD manufacturers to squash this. Dunno, really, obviously, but they DO screw up playback. And even if they DO play, it doesn't take rocket science to figure out it's probably putting lots of extra stress on the player. YMMV, I guess.

Lots of processes, and they're all different. If you can get into quantities of 1,000 or more, it probably pays to have the disks pressed and professionally produced. Less than that, the one-off is usually more economical. A decent disk duplicator that prints labels isn't that expensive.

Ultimately, it's about quantity these days, and there's a break-even point where doing it yourself makes no sense. Time is an issue, too. It took over an hour today to get the duplicator at work to "print" four DVD's. If you present a master to a production company for thousands of disks, you better make sure that your master is perfect. I can get an order of 2,000 disks in two weeks and it's not real expensive, but once the order is placed, I'm locked to the binary image and the artwork. Any screw-up and the order becomes a pile of scrap.

[W1GUH]

Lots of processes, and they're all different. If you can get into quantities of 1,000 or more, it probably pays to have the disks pressed and professionally produced. Less than that, the one-off is usually more economical. A decent disk duplicator that prints labels isn't that expensive.

Ultimately, it's about quantity these days, and there's a break-even point where doing it yourself makes no sense. Time is an issue, too. It took over an hour today to get the duplicator at work to "print" four DVD's. If you present a master to a production company for thousands of disks, you better make sure that your master is perfect. I can get an order of 2,000 disks in two weeks and it's not real expensive, but once the order is placed, I'm locked to the binary image and the artwork. Any screw-up and the order becomes a pile of scrap.

On the same page there. If quantity becomes a problem (well, I can dream, can't I?) (I put the threshold somewhere between 10 & 25 total), I'll be going straight to Diskmakers, no two ways about that! Know them well from three of Indy Music Forums they put on here in the early part of the decade. Learned SO MUCH there and hooked up with some outstanding talent. Been applying the lessons ever since with nice results.

[W1GUH]

All's well. UPS just delivered my supply of Lightscribe disks. Order filled with no problems.

Lesson learned:

If you order from Best Buy, it's probably best to have it shipped directly to you. If I had, I wouldn't have had the hassles I had. Seems they're not perfect at knowing which store has what in stock.

[K7SGJ]

All's well. UPS just delivered my supply of Lightscribe disks. Order filled with no problems.

Lesson learned:

If you order from Best Buy, it's probably best to have it shipped directly to you. If I had, I wouldn't have had the hassles I had. Seems they're not perfect at knowing which store has what in stock.

Never had much of a problem getting Lightscribe discs for the external drive. Labelflash is another story. Seems that never really caught on, and of course that's what my LT came with inside.

[KG4CGC]

Never had much of a problem getting Lightscribe discs for the external drive. Labelflash is another story. Seems that never really caught on, and of course that's what my LT came with inside.

My light truck only came with an AM/FM Cd and power windows.

[K7SGJ]

My light truck only came with an AM/FM Cd and power windows.

May I suggest another use for those power windows?

[KG4CGC]

May I suggest another use for those power windows?

I've taken apart and repaired power windows. They're hardwired.

[K7SGJ]

I've taken apart and repaired power windows. They're hardwired.

Not what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of guillotine action.

[W1GUH]

Never had much of a problem getting Lightscribe discs for the external drive. Labelflash is another story. Seems that never really caught on, and of course that's what my LT came with inside.

For some reason, they've been scarce lately. Will probably stock up while I can.

[K7SGJ]

For some reason, they've been scarce lately. Will probably stock up while I can.

You might want to check out the prices at Newegg vs Best Buy. I've found not only do they have a great selection of CD, +DVD, -DVD, and even a 100 pack with 20 each of different colors, their everyday prices are quite good, and they always seem to have a good stock.

[W1GUH]

Never tried 'em, but have heard lots of good things about them. Will give them a try when the local Best Buy doesn't have what I want in stock. Come to think of it, that's right now. Need a USB to gigabyte ethernet adapter. Going to check out Newegg.


P.S. If you get a network disk, don't overlook transfer speed, like I did. 100MB just ain't useful for mass storage! DUH!!!

[W1GUH]

Done. Thanks for the nudge to get done something I kept putting off.

[W1GUH]

newegg was good...item delivered as promised. And their email about tracking was very convenient. Will order from them again.

So...now I've got a gigabit ethernet & a gigabit ethernet disk (WD MYBOOKLIVE). The net's all set up and reported as 1GB. Too bad I'm not getting anywhere near that speed with file transfer. ARGH!!!!!!! Now I get to find out what's limiting it. Both the disk & the network report good status. Sigh...another time sink.

[W1GUH]

So I got a CAT6 cable -- guess it helped, now I'm getting 2% of a gig...better then what I WAS getting. Still slow as molasses, tho'. Where does the BW go, already?

[K7SGJ]

This is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned how fast the days go when your retired. You plan all kinds of stuff and are lucky to get anything done.

[W1GUH]

LOL!

[n2ize]

So I got a CAT6 cable -- guess it helped, now I'm getting 2% of a gig...better then what I WAS getting. Still slow as molasses, tho'. Where does the BW go, already?

A gig what ?

[KG4CGC]

This is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned how fast the days go when your retired. You plan all kinds of stuff and are lucky to get anything done.

Not to mention all those damn camels showing up in your yard.

[K7SGJ]

Not to mention all those damn camels showing up in your yard.

Well, that's about the only humping going on around here.

[KG4CGC]

Well, that's about the only humping going on around here.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074614/

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2Mjg3MDc4M15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjM1MTQyMQ@@._ V1._SY317_.jpg

[W1GUH]

AS long as they bring their toes, might be fun!