How to Mark, Print, or Label
Your CDs & DVDs

©2004 Vend4less.com, all rights reserved.
Quoted prices are shown only as a general guide.
They are subject to change from time to time and were accurate as of Nov. 12, 2003

This guide contains helpful tips on how to (1) avoid damage to your discs with inks or labels, (2) improving the storage lifetime, and also (3) improving the appearance of your discs. We suggest that you print and save this guide, and send emails to your friends with this page link.

Why is this important to you? -- Improper CD and DVD marking or labels can cause playback errors, and even make discs totally useless after a period of time. To protect your discs, it's important to start with the right type of discs for each type of label or marking use, and then to follow some smart precautions. The sensitive top silver reflector layer that exists in CDs and DVDs can be damaged or tarnished by harsh chemicals from inks and label adhesives that might leach down into the plastic during storage or use, over time. Once the silver gets tarnished or discolored, the reflector won't reflect the laser light from CD/DVD players back down into the reading sensor, so the disc becomes unplayable. Also, heavy paper CD labels can make many DVD±R or ±RW discs completely unplayable due to disc wobbling and vibration. You can choose between several alternatives to protect your discs -- you can leave them blank of course, or mark them with pens, or apply labels to them, and finally you can print directly onto "printable coated" discs with special direct-to-disc CD/DVD inkjet or thermal printers. We discuss each of these althernatives below.

Leaving Your Discs Blank -- This may not be as undesirable as it seems. For double sided DVD-R 9.4gb discs, it is the obvious choice. And, many people are distributing their single sided 4.7gb DVD±R discs without any marking. The thinking here is that this is the best way to totally avoid any possible damage to the disc from inks and labels or printing. The thought here is that most DVDs are never "layed down" anywhere outside the case -- being placed directly into a player after removal from their case, and then right back into the case after being played. These folks simply print an attractive case cover with all the needed information and distribute their discs without any marking or printing on the DVD disc itself. For these folks, using any blank top disc will do. They don't need special disc types with extra coatings. Nonetheless, that is NOT an attractive option for most people, who want to professionally organize and identify their CD and DVD productions. If you're in this majority of users, here is the information you need...

IMPORTANT
RULE #1 -- Always record or "burn" your CD or DVD before doing any marking, applying labels or printing on it. Then test the disc to make sure it plays. That way you will know whether the marking or labels or printing damaged the disc or if it was not recorded properly in the first place.

(1) Marking Your CDs and DVDs with Pens

This is the easiest and least expensive way to identify and organize your discs. While it may not make a "professional" appearance, it gets the job done and works fine for discs intended mainly for your home or personal in-office use. The basic points to remember are:

  1. Don't use the strong-smelling marking pens that use inks containing chemicals like ether or other petro-chemicals.
  2. Don't use pens with sharp, hard points that might scratch or damage the disc surface.
  3. Use pens with an alcohol or water base, and soft, flexible tip that will not damage the disc surfaces. Brands of soft tipped alcohol based marking pens that are available for this purpose include the Sharpie markers, TDK and CD Markers, among others. We sell special disc marking pens... Stock No. 311025 CD/DVD Marking Pens - from $ 2.99
  4. When possible do not write directly over the large outer silver reflector area or outer "doughnut" of the disc top surface. Instead, make small notations over the clear small center area near the hole.
  5. Buy special "thermal certified" or "thermal printable" coated CD-R or DVD±R discs. These discs have an extra top coating applied to the top of the disc to protect it against the heat of thermal type printers. This extra coating serves also to protect the disc against damage from marking pens and inks. These thermal coated discs are available in your choice of silver or white coatings for both CD-R and DVD±R discs. (You can also use the inkjet printable, non-glossy matte top coated discs, if you wish.) And, for CD-R discs you can also choose from a wide selection of solid colors like blue, red, orange, pink, green and so on.

MARKABLE CD-R MEDIA TO ORDER:
Markable or "Printable" Top Coated CD-R Media
for Use with Soft-Tipped, Alcohol Based Marking Pens

MARKABLE DVD±R MEDIA TO ORDER:
Markable or "Printable" Top Coated DVD-R and DVD+R Media
for Use with Soft-Tipped, Alcohol Based Marking Pens

(2) Printing onto Your CDs and DVDs with Direct-to-Disc Printers

This is the smartest, and safest way to organize and present your discs, and certainly makes the best professional appearance. Today the prices of direct-to-disc inkjet printers are at very affordable levels so that most users can afford them. There are three general types of printers you may want to consider. Each type of disc printer has its own advantages, depending on your disc production volume and design requirements:

See the full printer specs and pricing by clicking on a link below...

  1. RULE #1: Record Before You Print onto Disc's -- This is especially important for DVDs. Discs could be damaged during printing by scratching or sometimes by the ink application itself on some discs. The only way to be sure what caused the damage to a disc is to know that it was playable BEFORE it was printed. So always test your DVDs before printing.
  2. Full Color Inkjet -- These printers are available at economical prices starting at less than $250 (see link below) and offer high image quality that can satisfy the most demanding professionals. You can choose entry level 4-color ink cartridge printers which print at around 2,600 dpi resolutions, or even higher 5,700 dpi resolution 4-color models, or "state-of=the-art" high end 6-color ink cartridge printers for just under $400 (see below). The advantage to the 6-color printers is that the colors are a bit more intense, more vivid, or technically feature a higher "gamut" than the 4-color machines. These machines are for small to medium production volumes; home, small to medium office or studio use. Your final ink printing costs should range around 5 to 15 cents per disc, depending on the amount of coverage your design uses. Discs normally take from one to two minutes to print per disc.
  3. 2-Color Thermal -- This is the fastest way to print onto discs -- as quick as 7 seconds per disc! And, the per disc ink costs can be around 10-cents or less, depending on coverage. These printers are more expensive (around $2,700 see below), but they present an excellent investment for medium to large production users. Their final output achieves a very vivid, intense color density with clean crisp edges and super high contrast -- similar to silk screened "store bought" discs. Due to the nature of the thermal transfer ribbon printing process, only discrete one and two color printing can be performed. No "full color" images can be printed. Your discs designs can have large areas of a single "background color" with another color used for text or line art logos, and so on. Areas or logos can be knocked out or dropped out of the design to allow the silver or white disc surface to show through for an attractive option. Many companies release their software, music or movie discs using this kind of printing. As a result, your discs will look like many others on the market even though they do not use full color images.
  4. Robotic Inkjet Printer/Duplicators -- Medium to large sized production users can benefit from these totally "hands free" type of machines. You make your printing design in full color, and save that as an image file on your computer, then produce your disc contents as a file on your hard drive, place a stack of 25 discs into the bin and then start its production software... go to coffee or go back to your other work... voila! You come back later and all 25 discs have been recorded, printed and stacked neatly into the output bin! These robotic machines do all the actual production labor for you. You will need a good Windows or Macintosh computer with Firewire AND also USB ports available. The control signals are sent down the USB cable while the image or disc contents are sent down the Firewire cable simultaneously. All required software and hardware is included.

Direct-to-Disc Inkjet and Thermal Printers

Inkjet Printable CD-R Media

Thermal Printable CD-R Media

Inkjet Printable DVD-R Media

Inkjet Printable DVD+R Media

(3) Applying CD/DVD Labels to Your Discs

For CD-R Discs -- Applying labels to discs requires only a regular inkjet or laser printer, and buying blank labels. Users can select from a wide variety of different label layouts and paper colors and materials to suit their needs. Prices for labels range from a few cents per matte paper label to a dollar or more for the glossy or foil types. Labels have been the most popular way to produce CD-R discs for years. Generally, this works fine for most CD-R users. However when it comes to DVD-R or DVD+R discs, it is a different story.

We do NOT Recommend Using Labels for DVD-R or DVD+R Discs -- As discussed above, the best way to print your DVDs is with a direct to disc printer, such as the EZ CD Printers sold here in our store, starting as low as $240 and up (Search for "ez cd" in the search box on our front page). However, if you do decided to use labels, you will need to find the very lightest weight labels you can, to avoid or at least minimize possible DVD wobbling and disc playback errors.

We recommend that users wanting to apply labels to their DVDs try the excellent quality Avery Afterburner Clear Inkjet Labels - Stock No. AVR08844, usually priced under $20. These are light weight, clear inkjet printable labels for regular inkjet printers. These labels are excellent quality, and very easy to apply without getting bubbles that are common to other clear labels. Once applied, DVDs may still sometimes experience jitters or freezes due to playback errors... HOWEVER these are the best labels we have found for DVDs. The labels look great on the disc, and only occasionally cause problems. If you're not able to buy a direct to disc printer, then try these discs. Their tabbed, full face special design is for use with the $25 Avery Afterburner Applicator Tool only - Stock No. AVR08831. This applicator kit includes software, templates and sample paper labels, but no clear labels are included, so you need to order at least one pak of the clear labels. You will be amazed at the easy of use and quality of these labels. Software is available for Windows and Macs in the kit above.

DVD Labels, Cases and Sleeves

CD/DVD Labels, Cases and Sleeves

©2003 Americal.com, all rights reserved.