Wow, I stand corrected. 8O That's quite surprising because the image is chemically etched...so that makes me think that perhaps the unused dye on the disc fades away over time. Kind of a bummer, but I guess nothing lasts forever.
Maybe they will get archival quality discs at some point. It will be interesting to see what brands do better than others. Whoever is making HPs seems to be doing a pretty good job.
I'm quite surprised there isn't more mention of this at the websites, you'd think they are opening themselves up for a lawsuit from people who have their discs fade away. :?
I give 5 out of 5 starts for the review itself! Nice use of PhotoStory (or similar app). Great Job!
Thanks! I'll write up an article - or maybe do another Photo Story - on how the actual process went for me. I learned a lot about audio recording in a short time...(though there's still so much more to learn).
Jason, I bought the drive the day after you mentioned it the first time a month or tow ago. I could have used the patch.
I really didn't need the software that came with the drive as I already have a full version of Nero and it supports light scribe tech. very well. That said, at the time I bought the only way to get my pc to recognize it was to install all the software, boot up so it was seen, then do an uninstall of everything. (I like to keep my system pretty simple... only one burning program necessary)
After a motherboard upgrade and a new processer and a rebuild I found the patch. This let me put the drive in a nice external enclosure on the desktop and not have to install any software.
I dont think you are alone on the patch from what I searched on google a few weeks back to find the patch.
The discs do turn out awesome, and NewEgg has some decent prices for down here in the states on the verbatim cd's.
However, in actually considering the product, the coolness and geek factors are there for sure, but otherwise I felt I was missing something.
Sticky labels work great for me, provide color, won't fade over time if the proper ink is used, and take 1-2 minutes to print out and apply. Am I missing some advantage to LightScribe over conventional labels?
I suppose I can deal with no color, but 20+ minutes to print out a label that will fade over time did not make a convert out of me. I don't mean to be a killjoy, but unless someone can convince me that there is some other advantage to LightScribe, I'll stick to labels for now.
Sticky labels work great for me, provide color, won't fade over time if the proper ink is used, and take 1-2 minutes to print out and apply. Am I missing some advantage to LightScribe over conventional labels?
Sure - labels look cheesy. :lol: That's just my personal opinion of course, but I find that labels, no matter how nicely they're designed, tend to look home made and cheap. The LightScribe discs look sharp, professional, and custom made.
Regarding the fading, I'm not ready to get worried about it - *everything* fades over time it seems, and considering that most LightScribe discs will spend their life in a CD or DVD case sitting on a shelf with no sunlight hitting it...I expect mine to last a very long time.
Ultimately I don't think LightScrive is for everyone, but I'm certainly a big fan of it. :-)
Great review, loved the format, I just sat back and was entertained.
Not sold on the concept!
I will stick with my $100 CDN (from Future Shop) Epson printer that prints directly (in colour) on to the disk. Printable disks are still inexpensive, and easy to find in stores. Supplied application for printing on CD's works nicely out of the box, no additional drivers to download.
Sticky labels work great for me, provide color, won't fade over time if the proper ink is used, and take 1-2 minutes to print out and apply. Am I missing some advantage to LightScribe over conventional labels?
It would depend on your climate also. I live in Scottsdale, AZ and sticky labels don't last long in the summer, especially in a car at 120+/- F. I've had too many labels peel off inside my CD player.
I just bought a BenQ DW1625 with LightScribe from ZipZoomFly.com a week ago for $110 USD with a $30 mail-in rebate. I haven't tried the LightScribe feature yet, but the drive is awesome! It looks great and is by far the quietest drive I have ever used. The read/write times are identical to the HP, but in online reviews BenQ has said they will release a patch later on that will give it the same speeds as its predecessor, the DW1620 (4x DVD+R DL, 16x DVD-R). I looked at the HP first, but BenQ drives have received such good reviews as of late...
Patch...
:lol: 
Linear Mode
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