LightScribe technology offers consumers and businesses a simple, no-hassle way to burn professional, silkscreen-quality labels on their CDs and DVDs. Using the same laser that burns data in their disc drives, customers burn their data as always, flip the disc over, re-insert it into the drive and burn a precise and permanent iridescent label.

Highlights:

Professional-quality labels: Laser precision and detail
Simplicity: Just Burn – Flip – Burn
Durability: Long-lasting, scratch-resistant labels.
Mobility: Burn labels wherever you burn a disc, no need for printers!
Creativity: Combine text and graphics to personalize discs.

LightScirbe Direct Disc Labeling technology requires three elements:

1. LightScribe-enabled optical disc drive (ODD) – The drive can be either built into your desktop or notebook PC or you can use an external disc drive.
2. LightScribe-compatible media – LightScribe CD/DVD’s utilize a special coating applied to the disc surface that interacts with the laser of the LightScribe-enabled disc drive. Consumers can readily identify LightScribe-compatible media through the LightScribe logo found on media packaging and in the lower hub of each disc.
3. LightScribe-supported software applications – In addition to a label-making software, you will need LightScribe System Software (This software may be included with your hardware, or it may need to be installed separately). With this software, you can create one-of-a-kind designs for your CDs and DVDs using your own photos, text and artwork

Verbatim LightScribe Media

Verbatim offers a wide selection of LightScribe ­compatible media:

• CDR, DVD+R and DVD-R formats
• Multiple pack sizes
• Available in standard gold or colored background discs

In order to get the best results for burning audio on blank CD-R media, it’s important to have some basic information about the CD burning process. The three factors that will determine the overall quality of your burn are the type of burning hardware, the type of CD you’re burning, and the speed you choose to burn it at.

The type of burning hardware will mostly affect the consistency of the burn. A laser is a laser, and because of the digital nature of CD’s, there is no such thing as a physical error on a CD itself – the data is either a 1 or a 0, a bump or a flat surface, a translucent area or a darkened one. However, the process by which those digital bumps are burned into the surface is truly analog, so if the hardware or laser assembly is inconsistent or faulty, the result will be a bad or unusable burn.

The biggest difference the type of CD you’re burning onto will make is how long the data will last. Typically, inexpensive CD-R’s will have data loss much faster than more expensive ones. Since CD-R burning technology is relatively new, there isn’t going to be data to tell if these discs hold up for 50 years or not. The common consensus is that commercially produced CD’s will stay usable the longest (with some specific dyes and chemicals being considered “archival”), and that more expensive CD’s with high quality materials will last longer than more cheaply made ones. This is one case where you get what you pay for! Taiyo Yuden has the best reputation for audio quality, with companies like Verbatim, Mitsui, Sony close behind. When choosing CD’s for your audio burn, be sure to look up the most recent buyer reviews.

The speed you chose to burn your audio CD-R at can potentially have a major impact on the quality of the eventual product as well. The slower the speed, the sharper the edges will be on the dyed vs. non-dyed segments of the audio, and the more accurate the burn will be. The write laser of your burner is simply on or off, but at high speeds like 24x or 48x, jagged or blurry edges on the CD surface can cause jitter or potentially even skipping. Recognize also, that burning wav files is different than burning mp3’s. Much of the data is already gone from the mp3 files, so the addition of a quick burn to an already lossy-encoded audio file may lead to audio artifacts. Musicians and producers will often suggest burning as slow as at 2x or 4x speeds.

For your best audio quality, burn uncompressed audio files with well-maintained CD-R burner, with high quality CD-R’s at a low speed. Your ears will appreciate it!

Digital audio CD-R, distinguished by the CD-DA logo, is a recording format primarily intended for consumer standalone CD-R recorders, also sometimes referred to as music only CD-R.

Contrasted with your typical computer burner, a consumer unit cannot use regular data CD recordable discs you would normally use on your computer.

Consumer standalone CD recorders were built with Serial Copy Management System (SCMS) technology, basically a security feature designed to prevent people from pirating music. The SCMS standard was created as a compromise between electronics manufacturers and the RIAA. Electronics manufacturers wanted to make digital audio tape (DAT) machines available for sale in the United States. The RIAA, representatives of the music industry who previously threatened them with lawsuits, felt that consumer digital recorders would cause widespread piracy if readily available in a digital format. This was during a time when audio cassette and LP were still relatively popular formats. CDs were becoming popular and the RIAA thought that the emergence of CD recorders would spark users to copy their CD collection digitally on CD-R and DAT much the same way that people were copying LP onto cassettes to listen in their car, etc.

In the end, the compromise made was to include SCMS technology into consumer-grade recorders and legislation was passed in the US. The legislation still stands for consumer recorders sold in the US. SCMS, the acronym for Serial Copy Management System, was developed and served 2 purposes. It meant that every digital audio CD-R made with SCMS paid a royalty and also prevented digital copies of a digital source through the digital output.

SCMS copy protection uses the table of contents or ATIP section of the blank CD-R. Different sequences would distinguish material with copyrights from that of original recordings. The reason why standard CD-R media will not work in consumer CD recorders is due to the fact that they are not setup to use the “authorization bits” as defined by the SCMS standard.

So what does this mean if you have a consumer CD recorder?
It means you need to use blank CD-R that has the CD-DA logo or purchase discs that clearly state they have SCMS. MAM-A, Mitsui Advanced Media of America is one of the 3 remaining manufacturers that still support digital audio CD-R with SCMS. MAM-A has no intention to discontinue manufacturing digital audio CD-R with SCMS, they also manufacture gold digital audio CD-R which has improved data storage lifespan. At present the other 2 manufacturers are Verbatim and Prodisc. Prodisc makes a digital audio CD-R. We have heard reports that Prodisc digital audio CD-R has compatibility issues with Sony standalone CD recorders.

Our complete line of digital audio CD-R

One of the most interesting things to come from HP in the past few years is the advent of LightScribe technology. This is a laser-etching device that utilizes specially coated CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. You will be able to add text, graphics, and even photos directly onto the media. This opens up many creative possibilities.

When the technology was first introduced, the only color discs available were sepia. While you could still create some amazing effects with the media, many people longed for more colors. Today, you can find red, orange, blue, yellow, and green, which will give you even more options when you create a disc. In addition, the speed of the CD-Rs and DVD-Rs is greater than it was when they were first introduced.

One of the benefits of the LightScribe technology is that you no longer have to struggle with the stick-on labels. As most people can attest, one misstep with those old labels and you could ruin the CD-R or DVD-R and have to start over. A benefit over the inkjet printable media is that you don’t have to worry about letting the disc dry when the printing is complete.

The discs are easy to use. After you have added files to your disc, you will then remove the disc from the drive and turn it over so that the label side is now facing the laser. Create the design that you want for your CD and then “print”. The laser will take care of everything else.

You will need to have a disc writer that is compatible with this technology, as well as the special CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. While you might not want to spend money on getting a new drive, consider some of the benefits that the LightScribe printing technology brings.

First, you don’t have to struggle with ink or labels anymore, and you don’t have to worry about the label causing a problem when you put the CD-R or DVD-R into a drive.

You will be able to use the LightScribe discs to label everything and keep organized. Label your photo discs, your music discs, and everything else that you have.

The technology is great for bands that sell their products at their shows, artists, and more. They can simply burn the discs with their logo and track list and then sell them. They look great and they are easy to use. They also make a better looking gift than a CD-R with a hastily scrawled title in black marker.

If you are interested in Lightscribe DVD-R or CD-R check out our lightScribe section

Whether you are a small business owner looking to back-up company files, an art teacher who wants to pass on interesting curios to your class, or an audiophile who is transferring your LP records and want a copy that will last for many years. Despite advances in CD and DVD-R technology, data breaks down and degrades occur over time. The dye on a disc which stores the data can corrode causing data errors during playback or reading the disc. The reflective layer can also oxidize and prematurely cause data degradation and loss of quality or even complete loss of data.

Archive DVD-R, Gold Layer

Many recordable DVD and CD discs use silver as a reflective surface. Special “archive grade” CD-R and DVD-R however, use a more resistant 24 carat gold reflective layer. MAM-A boasts that their gold CD-R can last 300 years and Gold DVD-R 100 years.

To test longevity claims, manufactures submit their archive grade CDs to a special “rapid aging” gauntlet. Discs are placed in an environmental chamber and exposed to varying levels of heat and humidity. Silver layer reflective DVD-R discs tend to fail after spending 500 hours or so in such a chamber. MAM gold discs, on the other hand, retain their efficacy for far longer. (The ISO guidelines for such environmental stress tests have been well established and search for disc errors at intervals of around 500 hours.)

Why might archiving data be important to your home, office or firm? Here are some examples of when you might need this technology:

•    You want to keep important tax information or business accounting records on hand for years to protect your business.

•    You live in a climate that has a lot of humidity and other climate factors that might cause non-archival grade discs to degrade relatively rapidly.

•    You’ve discovered from experience that standard recording technologies are not long term enough for your data protection.

•    You need to create a “master” audio CD that will archive music recordings that can’t be replaced if lost.

•    You want to keep copies of camcorders movies for generations.

If you need help choosing an Archive DVD-R or CD-R, visit our Gold DVD-R section or the Gold CD-R section at Gotmedia.com