I’ll Stick to Sharpies

Complaint, Computers, Gadgets, Technology 2 Minutes

(Note: As tomorrow is someone’s birthday and may not be around to post in the evening, you are hereby awarded a 2UP for today!)

When I purchased my Gateway box back in November, it came equipped with a LabelFlash CD/DVD burner. Being I already had a computer at home that featured LightScribe labeling technology, I asked the Best Buy computer monkey if it would be compatible with my existing blank LightScribe discs.

“Yeah, they’ll work,” he told me.

Ahem. Right.

Trial and error revealed to me that LightScribe and LabelFlash are as compatible as HD DVD and Blu-Ray (which is a battle I’m not willing to even fight). The reason is that like the current DVD format war, they are competing technologies. I’m sure you’ve heard about this knife-fight-to-the-death, label-burning format war on all the top technology blogs. (*crickets chirping*)

Additionally, finding blank LabelFlash CDs is literally impossible; the only thing I’ve been able to find has been blank DVD media.

It’s not like I ran out and specifically wanted a drive that would burn labels, no. They came with their respective systems and I found LightScribe, if anything, more of a pain than a convenience. They look great but often take up to 30 minutes to burn in addition to burning the data itself. I couldn’t imagine LabelFlash being much better.

Last night, however, I added the finishing touches to a compilation CD I made for Ann and wanted to burn a nice Victorian-era Valentine’s Day image onto the disc. And I have to admit, it looked good. But knowing my LightScribe CDs wouldn’t work with the LabelFlash drive I headed over to the Compaq PC to burn the image onto the CD.

The Sonic Express Labeler application, for some reason or another, failed to launch. I later learned that there is a conflict with the software and Logitech (wireless) keyboards and mice.

There are, of course, several solutions to this problem:

  • Resolve the conflict according to Sonic’s Web site (which, not surprisingly, failed to work).
  • Uninstall any Logitech drivers from the PC and hope for the best
  • If the uninstall fails, remove the drive from the Compaq and install it on the Gateway (which would mean I’d also have to buy the LightScribe software)

But after thinking about it, I came to a more logical conclusion:

Fuck it. I’ll stick to Sharpies.

—
Share this post:

add to del.icio.us : Add to Blinkslist : add to furl : Digg it : add to ma.gnolia : Stumble It! : add to simpy : seed the vine : : post to facebook :

Advertisement

Published by Dave

Married with one son. Likes donuts and long walks on the beach. Got tired of being fat and lost 100 pounds. Prone to using '80s vernacular. Works as a proofreader. Was an extra in a few TV shows. Tries to be funny.

Published

2 thoughts on “I’ll Stick to Sharpies”

  1. I agree with you that LightScribe/Labelflash is a pain in the neck. Before you resolve to spend your life using a magic marker to make all of your cd/dvd labels may I offer a suggestion? Try out the DiscPainter by the Dymo label people. It prints full color picture labels on discs and even has an easy text feature that puts clear descriptions of what is on your disc right on it. It is a great printer if you make discs that you care about or that you give to people. Keep up the interesting, eclectic site.

    Like

  2. Thanks for the advice. I just looked up the DiscPainter and it seems great in theory. And I suppose, perhaps, if I were a photographer and part of my business was to burn a ridiculous amount of CDs, the Dymo thing would indeed be worth the price.

    But at the rate I currently burn CDs I think I’d be better off sticking with LightScribe (which now works after uninstalling the Logitech drivers) 🙂

    Like

Comments are closed.