The Epson R200 and Printable CDs: I've Seen the Light, and It's not Scribe!

[Jason Dunn]

<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/epson-r200.jpg" /><br /><br />As regular readers of Digital Media Thoughts know, I'm a big fan of <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,8187">HP's LightScribe technology</a>. Or I should say, I was. I've had a sort of technological epiphany. During my frothing-at-the-mouth about my LightScribe burner, a reader named <i>Gordo</i> made a <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8187&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=10">comment in the forums</a> about printable CDs:<br /><br /><i>"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."</i><br /><br />I'll admit it - I scoffed at the idea. An Epson printer printing onto CDs? That's nowhere <i>near</i> as cool as LightScribe, right? I haven't had an Epson printer since the late '90s and tended to favour Canon printers. So I had never printed onto a CD, and figured that since neither HP nor Canon printers had this feature, it must be a gimmick. People, let me tell you, <b>I was so wrong</b>. A few months ago when the <i>wowcoolneat</i> factor of the LightScribe CDs wore off, I started thinking about what Gordo said and looked into the printable CD concept a bit further<!>. I learned a few things: first, it seems that HP and Canon printers in other parts of the world <a href="http://www.43folders.com/2005/06/index_card_prin.html">do print to CDs</a> - it's only in Canada and the US that they do not. There's some sort of a patent issue that makes Epson the only CD printing option in North America.<br /><br />My local Best Buy had a $40 rebate on the <a href="http://thoughtsmedia.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=2423685/sort_type=price">Epson R200</a>, so I picked it up for a mere $99 Canadian. I figured for that price, I didn't have much to lose if my experiment was a failure. Around the same time I bought a Canon M780 printer/fax/scanner combo unit, and I still had my much-loved Canon i950 hooked up. I did a little experiment and printed the same photo on the same paper on each printer. The results surprised me! The i950's output was surprisingly yellow, something I had never noticed before, but it was obviously so when compared to the output of the Canon MP780. The R200 had the best output of the lot with nicely balanced colours and realistic flesh tones, which is saying a lot for a $99 printer. So as a photo printer, it impressed me.<br /><br />What about the CD printing? Well, this is where the R200 really impressed me. I picked up two kinds of printable CDs: ones with a silver finish, and ones with a matte white finish. I wasn't sure what I was expecting as I loaded the CD into the tray to get it printed on - I had to fight with the R200 a bit to get it to print on the CD because it kept giving me errors - but the end result was very much worth it. See for yourself below (click on the image for a much larger version):<br /><br /><a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/printable-cd-big.jpg"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/printable-cd-small.jpg" /></a><br /><br />The detail was extremely impressive, especially on the white matte. The silver finish gives a nice effect, and would be very impressive with a single large image as the background. Colour saturation and vibrancy was excellent, and you can make out a good amount of detail on even the smallest image. What about the cost? As of today, silver finish printable CDs at a local vendor cost about 30 cents each when bought in packs of 100. The same brand of CDs in non-printable format cost 16 cents. So while they're more expensive, 30 cents a disc falls into the "really cheap" threshold, especially when compared to the pricey LightScribe CDs that are well over a buck each (if you can even find them). The real benefit over LightScribe is that the DVDs look every bit as good as the CDs, unlike the horrible results I saw from burning onto a LightScribe DVD.<br /><br />Overall, the Epson R200 is an impressive photo printer, especially given the price point. I'm fully sold on the printable CD concept, and can only shake my head at the fact that Canon and HP printers in North America lack this awesome feature. If you create photo and video discs with any degree of frequency, having directly printed on discs gives you all the vibrancy of colour labels with the safety of LightScribe technology, all for a reasonable cost. Impressive indeed!<br /><br /><i>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Alberta, Canada.</i>

[Phronetix]

Cool Jason. I've had my R200 since after Christmas 2004, when I bought it in a door crasher sale at Staples (a sale I wasn't even trying to crash, btw) for 90$, which at the time was well under half price.

If I'd have know you could've been talked down from the Lightscribe bandwagon, I'd have had you over here for a looksee. :wink:

One issue that remains with this printer for me is how long it takes for the ink to dry. I've taken to using an archival grade acrylic spray after printing to keep the ink from being smudged. On the one hand, it dries quickly after that and provides a neat textured surface. On the other hand, I keep thinking I shouldn't have to be doing this.

[Ploobers]

Are all Epson printers able to do this or just select models? Where is it documented that it has that function? I have the Epson multi-function 6600.

[Jason Dunn]

Are all Epson printers able to do this or just select models? Where is it documented that it has that function? I have the Epson multi-function 6600.

I think it's only certain models - you'll want to check their Web site, though if yours didn't come with a CD tray, odds are it can't do it.

[Jason Dunn]

One issue that remains with this printer for me is how long it takes for the ink to dry. I've taken to using an archival grade acrylic spray after printing to keep the ink from being smudged. On the one hand, it dries quickly after that and provides a neat textured surface. On the other hand, I keep thinking I shouldn't have to be doing this.

Interesting - I haven't noticed that problem, but I've only printed a few CDs and generally let them sit for hours before touching them. The acrylic spray sounds interesting - do you find it changes the print job much in terms of colour and/or clarity? Where would you buy something like that? And if I leave them sit until the ink is dry, does that basically have the same effect? ;-)

[ctmagnus]

The acrylic spray sounds interesting... Where would you buy something like that?

I'd try an artsy store. The name escapes me, but it's at the west end of the mall that's across 16th avenue from SAIT. Stores like that.

[Kursplat]

Smudging/Smearing is the main reason I haven't attempted to go this route.

If a tiny drop of water happened to come into contact with that printed surface, would it smear the ink? Especially if you then went to try to wipe it off?

[Jason Dunn]

If a tiny drop of water happened to come into contact with that printed surface, would it smear the ink? Especially if you then went to try to wipe it off?

I just put a drop of water on my finger then rubbed the CD I printed about 2 hours ago, and yes, it smears and smudges the ink. I can't think of a single instance where I've gotten a CD or DVD wet, so I have to admit this doesn't bother me one bit. ;-)

[Kursplat]

But it does seem to question the last half of this statement "gives you all the vibrancy of colour labels with the safety of LightScribe technology."

But then, I'm not exactly sure what you were referring to by the "safety of LightScribe technology" to begin with. :)

The acrylic spray idea sounds interesting. I'll have to start watching for a good price on this printer.

[Jason Dunn]

But it does seem to question the last half of this statement "gives you all the vibrancy of colour labels with the safety of LightScribe technology." But then, I'm not exactly sure what you were referring to by the "safety of LightScribe technology" to begin with. :)

An interesting point. My comment about the "safety" of Lightscribe referred to the lack of danger of labels coming off inside your optical drive or car stereo. In this instance Lightscribe is the more durable solution if you're planning on getting the discs wet.

[Gordo]

Welcome to the dark side -- sans LightScribe! But more colorful!

You mentioned that you “had to fight with the R200 a bit to get it to print on the CD because it kept giving me errors”. I don’t have any errors, but I do have a minor struggle. Every time I put the CD holder into the printer so that the arrows line up, and as soon as it starts to print the printer gives the holder two pushes back, causing it not to feed correctly. The only solution I have found is to immediately give the holder a push back to line up the arrows. Have you been suffering a similar problem?

Otherwise, for $100 I still happy with the printer.

[Jason Dunn]

Every time I put the CD holder into the printer so that the arrows line up, and as soon as it starts to print the printer gives the holder two pushes back, causing it not to feed correctly. The only solution I have found is to immediately give the holder a push back to line up the arrows.

Actually, that's the EXACT problem I was having the first time I used the printer, and my solution was the same. I used it to print five CDs today and didn't have that problem...yet I lined up the arrors exactly the same. So I really have no idea why it worked for me without any problems. 8O

[Gordo]

Mine was the reverse, worked just fine for the first few, and now it consistently requires the extra push back.

I checked my Version number of the print driver and noticed that Epson has a newer version on the web. I am downloading it now to see if it fixes my problem.

My current version is 5.4 and version 5.5 is available.

[Phronetix]

One issue that remains with this printer for me is how long it takes for the ink to dry. I've taken to using an archival grade acrylic spray after printing to keep the ink from being smudged. On the one hand, it dries quickly after that and provides a neat textured surface. On the other hand, I keep thinking I shouldn't have to be doing this.

Interesting - I haven't noticed that problem, but I've only printed a few CDs and generally let them sit for hours before touching them. The acrylic spray sounds interesting - do you find it changes the print job much in terms of colour and/or clarity? Where would you buy something like that? And if I leave them sit until the ink is dry, does that basically have the same effect? ;-)


As long as the ink does dry, the effect would be the same. The ink color that is most resistant to drying is red I find. You're looking at about 48 on the media I have.
If is was 48 minutes, it be too long for me, as I have the patience of a fruitfly. Therefore, I asked my wife, who has a srapbooking centre downstairs that looks like the Michael's scrapbooking aisle, and she gave me her acrylic finishing spray. Use as directed, and BAM, dry and payable in 10 minutes. And is water-resistant, so no smears.

What brand of media do you use Jason?

With respect to where to find this spray, I'm told that Rona or Michael's. I use the basic finishing spray. I've looked online, and better quality stuff can be had, but I never really bought the reasons they gave, so I ignored the online stuff and picked up a can at Michael's.

[Jason Dunn]

What brand of media do you use Jason?

Verbatim for CDs and Ritek for DVDs. I basically buy whatever is cheap. ;-)

[karinatwork]

Interesting... very interesting.... 8O

but isn't the solvent in the spray finish corroding the Cd's over time? I haven't got a clue, I just don't know if it's supposed to come in contact with whatever those CDs are made of.. plastic?

Just wondering. But it would be a fine idea to make those printed CDs more resiliant.

[Phoenix]

My laptop also has a Lightscribe drive, and I also love the idea of being able to print full color on discs, but the two things that keep me from going the print-to-disc route are the chance that the label will peel up and get caught in a slot-loading drive, and also the knowledge that the adhesive that these labels use has been known to eat through the discs over time, effectively destroying the data on the disc.

You say that the labels won't peel at the edges, but I'm curious as to why you state this isn't a concern. Is there some new method of attaching labels to the discs that manufacturers are using that I'm unaware of?

And again, the adhesive issue concerns me. With Lightscribe, I don't have to worry about this.

I'd love to have color, don't get me wrong - and my AIO handles printing to disc, but I can't say that I do it much because of the two above concerns.

[Jason Dunn]

You say that the labels won't peel at the edges, but I'm curious as to why you state this isn't a concern. Is there some new method of attaching labels to the discs that manufacturers are using that I'm unaware of?

Well, to be honest, I have no idea what method of attaching the labels they use when they're making them - but my assumption is that because the labels are never meant to come off, they'd be able to use much stronger adhesives than what you'd get when you buy a label pack in the store. The labels are more flush with the surface of the disc, and I've never seen even a hint of a ripple or edge. But this is all pure speculation on my part. :D

[keirmeister]

I just came across this article today, so I'm a little outdated. However, I didn't see it mentioned in the thread:

I've been printing on the inkjet CDs since late 2003/early 2004 with my Epson R300. The R200 is the newer cheaper (as in price, not quality) version. There is also an R300M which comes with the LCD monitor attachment.

I bought the R300 after my Canon S900 died for no apparent reason. While I love the S900's print quality, the Epson R300 has been my dear and faithful workhorse since.

And yes, I have fooled many friends with my R300-labeled CDs.

Simply Fabulous!

...just don't get them wet :wink:

- Keirmeister