Why Does LightScribe Matter?

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has created a new technology for labelling recordable optical discs, called LightScribe. Why does it matter? Why do we need a new process for labelling recordable discs.

Recordable CDs and DVDs have been plagued with the problem of labelling them since their inception. Most of the currently available solutions are rife with problems.

If you use a stick-on label, the label may delaminate and fly into various parts of your high-speed drive. The chemicals that make the label sticky may slowly seep into the media, causing eventual data corruption. A poorly shaped or placed label may also cause balance problems for the drive when it spins up to high speeds.

Writing on discs is plausible, but not particularly attractive. Pressing too hard while writing can damage the disc, and using the wrong kind of ink can again cause chemical seepage that may lead to data corruption.

Various other commercial gadgets for labelling discs are of dubious reliability. For example, if you read the fine print when trying to buy one Casio device designed for labeling discs, you'll find that "CASIO makes no guarantees concerning the loss of data caused by label printing". Not exactly the kind of endorsement you want to hear when labelling a crucial data backup or the safe copy of your precious family photos!

It's hard to prove until the technology actually ships, but HP's LightScribe appears to offer a safe and attractive solution to the labelling problems. One blogger has labelled LightScribe "True Innovation" Since you have to use discs specially designed to be labelled by LightScribe-enabled drives, corrupting data should not be an issue. Since the process changes the color of parts of the disc rather than adding inks or labels, it should be impossible to cause a disc imbalance that shows up at high drive speeds. There is no consumables cost of ink or paper with LightScribe. Finally, while the image printed is not color, the process appears to support fairly high resolution images that can be quite attractive. The official LightScribe website offers several examples of LightScribe-labelled discs.

You do have to purchase a LightScribe-enabled drive, and use LightScribe-compatible recordable discs, though HP claims these will only be slightly more expensive than the norm.

For having zero units shipped, HP's LightScribe seems to already be generating good buzz in the blogosphere, with one blogger saying LightScribe is "pretty neat", another pitching LightScribe as "simplified labelling", another calls LightScribe "clever new technology", the BioBlog looks at LightScribe for "aesthetic CDs" for medical professionals to pass out their talks on. There's no shortage of coverage of LightScribe in the commercial press, either. For example, Gizmodo covers the LightScribe announcement, and PC Magazine UK covers it too, while other mentions show up in Forbes, Canadian Business Magazine, PC World Digit Magazine, just to mention a few.

Clearly, the marketing effort for LightScribe is well on its way, if a bit premature. If it ships before some superior disc labelling solution appears, LightScribe is likely to become popular enough to provide an appealing extra revenue stream for drive and media manufacturers.

Why Does LightScribe Matter?

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