HP announces expected launch and pricing of its LightScribe technology

March 11, 2004

Yamaha which ceased its optical disc recording hardware production were the first to allow consumers to 'burn' a visible disc label into the unused portion of the data side of the CD. Back in January HP has announced that they came up with a similar technique but this time using the drives laser to burn a label on the title side of the CD. The technology LightScribe enables drives to perform this although it requires media with a special coating. To record the label, the user must flip the disc after the data burn for the laser to burn the image on the label side.

HP estimates that LightScribe compatible drives will be around $ 10 more expensive than the standard drives and compatible media will be about 10 cents more. The technology will be expected to hit the PC market in six months time and likely the standalone set-top CD/DVD recording market at a later stage. As the drive uses its laser to record the label, no consumable parts such as ink are required other than the disc itself. Thanks to batiar who used our news submit to submit the following news:

Looking for a way to label your multitude of CDs and DVDs neatly and efficiently? HP has come up with an elegant answer: Use the same laser that already burned the data to make a label on the flip side of the disc.

A technology dubbed LightScribe enables drives to burn a silk screen-like, high-contrast label on the upper side of CD or DVD media bearing a special coating. After completing a data burn, users will be prompted to flip the disc over to burn a label onto the other side.

The first LightScribe drives and media are expected to hit the market about six months from now, from leading manufacturers such as Hitachi-LG, MicroVision, Mitsubishi Chemical, Moser Baer India, Sonic Solutions, and Toshiba. HP estimates that a drive that uses LightScribe will carry a premium of about $ 10 over the going price today, and that a disc will cost about a dime more than today's discs.

"There are no consumables like ink or ink jet cartridges; the only consumable is the disc itself," says Daryl Anderson, project manager and HP engineer responsible for inventing the technology as part of a joint effort between HP's Imaging and Printing Group and its Personal Systems Group.

HP's technology differs from Yamaha's DiscT@2, introduced a year ago on the CRW-F1 CD-RW drive (see "Tattoo You: Burn Your Own CD Labels"). DiscT@2 burns a label on the disc's underside, reducing the amount of data the disc can store; and the exposure of the data side renders it more easily scratched or scuffed.

HP notes that LightScribe is likely to show up eventually on such consumer electronics products as stereo-component CD recording decks and set-top DVD recorders.

Label printing seems like a handy way of printing on CDs without the use of physical sticky CD labels or purchasing an expensive inkjet labeller to do the job. While the recorded label may not be in colour, it does give a nice authentic look to the CD. If this done with a near-silver data recordable CD with a LightScribe compatible label side, it would be difficult to tell it is a CD-Recordable other than testing it with software.

Feel free to discuss about recording hardware and media on both our Recording Hardware Forum and Media Forum.

Source: PCWorld - DVD Drives & Media