CD & DVD labels – The Truth

All you wanted to know about labelling CD and DVD writeables

Advances in "writeable" CD and DVD technology over the last few years have been matched only by the rapid drop in CD-R and DVD-R prices. Increasingly more people are using their computers to make their own music mix CDs, movies and for archiving pictures and files with minimal cost and effort.

With progressively more blank CDs (or DVDs) being used, the problem of sorting and finding them is getting increasing frustrating. However the answer to this is also cheap and simple - Good labelling - it prevents having to insert masses of CDs into your drive to find the right one!

There are several ways to label your CDs/DVDs, some more effective than others –

1. Pen
   Benefits – easy & cheap with a specialist pen
   Disadvantages – Often obscure, difficult to read and ambiguous when sorting through a large pile.
   
   
2. Paper Stick-on Labels
   Benefits – widely available, easily printed on inkjets & can have pictures and descriptive text
   Disadvantages – If not applied correctly can get stuck in the drive, potentially causing problems with your PC and possibly breaking the CD itself destroying your files. The older the CD gets the label glue deteriorates and the more likely problems are.
   
   
3. Printable CDs and DVDs
   Many manufacturers make white surfaced CDs & DVDs which can have the same colour designs as printed labels using special inkjet printers made by companies such as Epson, HP, Canon and others. Greenstreet’s CD Label Software is ideal for designing and controlling print to these CDs.
   Benefits -  Have a long lifetime, easy to use, no risk of damage to your drive.
   
   
4. Lightscribe
   Hewlett Packard have pioneered a different plain surface CD and DVD product called "Lightscribe" that uses the same laser in your "writer" drive to create a laser-etched label. This only works if you have a Lightscribe compatible drive. When you have finished writing your CD or DVD just flip it over and use Lightscribe design software like Greenstreet’s CD Label on your CD/DVD to create a professional looking iridescent design to the surface of your disc.
   Benefits - It won’t fade, smudge or peel off so is the most permanent solution. It is only monochrome but with Greenstreet’s software you can include designs, text such as lists of music tracks and graphics creating a top quality look.

Buy greenstreet’s brand new CD labels software and you can ensure you get the best CD and DVD labels. The software is fully Vista and XP compatible (sorry no MAC version). It’s available now as a download for $29.99 (approximately (£14.99 or € 19,99) and using our special technology you can write your downloaded software straight on to a CDR to keep as a back up copy. We even provide our own product label as part of the software so you can label it to keep. Perfect, professional looking labels easily!