DVD writers buyers guide

Lightscribe and Labelflash

About a year ago HP introduced the Lightscribe technology. Compatible drives are able to etch monochrome images into the top of a suitable CD or DVD. This enables you to label your discs relatively simple, and is an interesting technology. However this technology has not really taken off as of yet, for various reasons. One of the issues with Lightscribe is the high license costs, resulting in many manufacturers’ reluctance to use it, but also the high costs of the compatible discs and the time it takes to finish a disc (up to 30 minutes). This combined with the fact that you cannot use colour in the labels do not help acceptance by consumers.

The low acceptance of Lightscribe has not stopped NEC from developing a similar technology called Labelflash. Although the two techniques are very similar (Labelflash will also allow you to etch a label onto a CD or DVD) Labelflash is slightly faster than Lightscribe and the discs used for the technique are blue, which might appeal to a broader public. Up to now Labelflash is only available on NEC rewriters, discs are only made by Fujifilm and cost up to twice the amount of a normal DVD.

Lightscribe can't be regarded as succesful yet.