I'm looking for a new computer and the HP's and Compaq’s come with Light Scribe. All of my guru's around here say that HP & Compaq are prioritized and are trouble when a problem arises and they don’t like them at all. These guys use computers for a surveying business and have no need for labeling CDs except for using a marker to label them.

Maybe it would be better to get an emachine and buy an Epson printer for labeling CD's?

The emachines they say are not prioritized, they are priced nicely and the reputation of this brand seems to be climbing while the others are going down. These are some comments I've heard by these gurus. All I do is learn to run software.

In any event what is the latest on labeling CD’s? Those of you with the Epson printer, are you happy with the system? What about anyone with Light Scribe, might it be better? Or should I forget about this?

First, I don't know what "priortized" means in this context. But anyway, the Lightscribe, to my knowledge, is VERY slow. If it were me (and I have looked at this many times and might be buying soon), I'd buy the Epson for labeling. But if you are doing a run of CD's, I wouldn't do either. I'd send the master to Harmony-Central or or some other company. They do 50 for $59, plus shipping. About $80.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Brickboo,
In the past I purchased an HP computer from CompUSA. It was a consumer model that included 24/7 free telephone support for three years. The computer started having problems the day after I purchased it. I called the toll free support number and after three hours of waiting I gave up. The next day I called (late at night) and gave up after holding for two hours. I then returned the computer to CompUSA. What good is 24/7 free support if they never answer your phone call? I then purchased an E machine notebook computer. The price was excellant and the computer and support have been very good. A much better value than HP and much better support.

I would buy the epson printer to print on CDs.

ON the other hand, I have never had anything but HP printers, never had a problem with any of them in all these many years and HP sends me an email about once a month or so to update any HP drivers I have for my HP Scanner, three printers, Digital Camera and Digital camera bass charger transfer unit.
But no more compaq computers no matter if HP or who might own them. I have one that was 1800.00 new and failed a week after the warranty expired and a new mother board is propietary and over 400.00. So I bought a new Sony VAIO and my laptos 2 are Toshiba.
I like HP and they are neighbors up the street if I had a serious problem with their stuff.
Bebop

I have always had good luck with HP, I've owned a couple and the one I have now I had problems with when I first got it. they fed exed me a box (overnight) so I could ship it back to them. Within a week I got my computer back, delivered to my door, and two years no problems.
My buddy has bought a couple of emachines(made by IBM as I understand it) the first was their giveaway 299 all in one which wasn't bad except it came with the bare minimum of everything and it was hard to expand.
This time he bought the next model up from the bottom and got a much nicer more full featured machine.And by the way emachine had almost as much prioritized software as HP.
The way I understand lightscribe is it etches on special cd's, not in full color, but no ink to buy.
I could be wrong but thats my impression from talking to the kids at best buy.

I have an HP computer with Lightscribe and an Epson RX320 printer. I have now made labels in three ways: printing disk labels on a laser printer, using light scribe, and printing on inkjet compatible disks using the Epson.

Lightscribe is cool-looking. Its monochrome, almost like some old engraving. It takes about 20 minutes to print one disk. Lightscribe-compatible disks are much more expensive than regular or inkjet compatible disks.

The Epson of course is full color. It is faster than lightscribe, but still takes a couple of minutes per disk. I use it most of the time when I need to label a disk.

If I have a lot of disks to produce, I print on color-laser compatible labels. For more than one label, this is the fastest way to print and the quality is fine.

One issue in disk labeling is the size of the center margin. The large center holes for CDs and DVDs are a big limitation for disk artwork. With lightscribe you are stuck with this. For inkjet compatible disks, there are some than are writable much closer to the center hold. There are also disk labels that allow you to select a smaller center hole.

Why is a topic about PC's and printers in the General Arranger section???

This forum is not arrangers-only.

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Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

It is. This is the General Arranger Keyboards Forum. Scroll upwards in the mainindex of this forum to find the PC Software and Hardware Forum.