LightScribe improves the legal copy and burn

I copy and burn CDs and DVDs. Get over it. It is no secret that there are very few of us who, connected to the Information Age, have not burned off a few disks. Most of this copying and burning seems to fall under the umbrella of fair use, although there are those who would have you believe otherwise.
Here is how I see it. I have an MP3 CD player built into my car, and I want to listen to my 22-disk “Ulysses” audio book on a road trip. I can bring the entire boxed set, risk losing or damaging it, and fumble dangerously with multiple disk swaps, or I can rip it to MP3 and carry the whole book on two CDs.
The same applies to those $29.95 DVDs that you want to play in the back seat of the minivan to keep the kids happy. You can imperil the original, or you can make a car copy. When the latter gets hacked to bits and no longer plays, you can simply make another copy of your legally owned disk, rather than cough up an additional $29.95 as some would have you do. It doesn’t seem like piracy to me. If anything constitutes fair use, these two applications certainly do.
However, once created, these duplicate disks are all virtually identical, and it is incumbent upon the creator to find a way to differentiate them from each other.

Labeling the disks

Years ago, I wrote a column on then-new technology called LightScribe, which employs an appropriately configured burner to print sturdy labels right onto a disk. I reviewed it favorably back in 2004, and I still feel that it is a simple and handy way to label disks.
Since then, I acquired another means of labeling disks, an Epson R200 inkjet printer that prints directly onto specially coated disks in full color. Like many tattoos, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Regrettably, the printer turned out to be something less than reliable.
After a few months of use, the disk tray became loose in its track. I had to rig a bamboo backscratcher as a support to allow it to work even occasionally. I have heard from other R200 users who have conscripted everything from margarine container lids to small stuffed animals to keep the disk tray properly aligned.
That takes us back to LightScribe and the way it impacts the home disk burner today. LightScribe technology is built into many contemporary burners, with more coming every day. Owners of LightScribe-compatible drives need only purchase the appropriate disks to turn their burner into a disk-labeling printer. It worked well when I examined it before, and I decided to have another look.

Two burners put to the test

This time around, I was fortunate to have two internal burners at my disposal. One, which we had just installed in a colleague’s machine, boasted a burn speed of 20x and connected to the PATA interface. The other, a shiny new ASUS DRW-1814BLT, connected to the faster SATA bus found in newer computers. Both came equipped with LightScribe capabilities, and I was anxious to see which drive would do a better job.
To make the disks, I chose to use Verbatim LightScribe DVD+R and CD-R recordable disks for direct disk labeling. I have always enjoyed the best of results with Verbatim disks. The cost difference over no-names is negligible when the extremely low “coaster factor,” the number of bad disks relative to good disks, is considered.
These are hardly scientific trials, but I made sure that each disk and drive was tested under the same conditions. The only practical difference between the two drives was the interface used to connect it to the motherboard. Both were connected as the only drive on their bus, whether it was on PATA or SATA.
I chose a homemade DVD containing 4.25GB of information for my first test and set to copying it. The 20x drive made a perfect copy in just 6:49. I was not surprised to see that the ASUS 18x, likely benefiting from the faster SATA bus, accomplished the same task in just 6:15. That may not seem like much, but if you are in a position to need several disks prepared quickly, 34 seconds per disk adds up in a hurry.
Moving to the CD category, I chose to burn MP3 files for my test. This time, it was my 17-CD audio book of the 1939 James Joyce masterpiece “Finnegans Wake.” The ripping process took most of an evening, and by the next morning I was ready to try the burn.
This time around, the ASUS drive accomplished a 500MB MP3 CD in 2:29. The 20x PATA model required 4:20 for the same task. While labeled with a slower burn speed, the ASUS drive proved consistently faster than the drive said to offer higher burn speeds in several categories.

Tweaking the printing

I thought I was reasonably adept at LightScribe design, but my first stab at label design turned out poorly. I used as little black as possible to speed up printing. I also selected a lower image quality on the output screen. As things turned out, I had made the image too thin. The label turned out ghostly, and I rushed back to the drawing board.
The second time around I was a bit more sensible. I used a bold but simple line-art graphic and block lettering. The design was perfect. Ten minutes later, the 18x drive shot out the first finished disk. In about two more minutes, the 20x drive completed. The labels were bold, clear and legible. I had regained my touch.
Even better, the new generation of LightScribe coatings on the Verbatim disks allowed for burn times that seemed significantly faster than on older media.
Eager to use up the disk supply, I decided to design one more label, this time using the worst possible original. I would choose a design so black and so busy that it would stretch the abilities of the LightScribe drives to the limit.
The final test was conducted with a busy image offering high contrast and great detail. This would have taken half an hour at least on first-generation drives and media. With the speed of the ASUS drive and the efficiency of the new coating, my disk, however cluttered, was finished in less than 20 minutes. When I wrote my original review, a similar disk took 28 minutes. LightScribe is getting faster.

Better price, better product

This simple test session delivered a happy resolution for home-burning fans and the end of all those Sharpie scribbled disks. High-quality LightScribe-equipped drives like the ASUS DRW-1814BLT are fast, reliable and inexpensive, selling for less than $40 including software. The next time you replace your optical drive, fitting one with LightScribe capabilities is a no-brainer.
While LightScribe media still cost a bit more than plain or printable disks, the difference in price is shrinking. Most LightScribe media is cast in the familiar goldtone, but Verbatim has introduced some colorful media to help unleash your creativity.
LightScribe-labeled disks have a number of advantages over their inkjet-labeled cousins. If you happen to pick one up with a wet hand, in your car on a rainy day, for example, they will not smear. They take a bit longer to produce, but not prohibitively longer than inkjet-printed or paper-labeled media. The results easily justify the effort.
I love my LightScribe-labeled disks. With all the trouble it has given me, I still use the inkjet printer, too. Even with those two devices, I still manage to crank out the occasional Sharpie-labeled disk, too. While the labeling topic is on the floor, I would love to hear from LightScribe, inkjet and paper label fans who want to tell me why they prefer their chosen method. As always, catch me at granese@juno.com .