Label Flash and Light Scribe are both disc labeling technologies that lets you imprint some graphics on a disc. While it may sound cool that you can "burn" images on your disc with your computer, there are drawbacks that certainly make that thought vanish with a blink.
First and foremost, these technologies doesn't come cheap. It's the exact opposite, they are very expensive. You have to purchase a Light Scribe or Label Flash compatible blank disc which is 75% more expensive than normal blank disc. Imagine, for buying every 100 Light Scribe or Label Flash compatible blank disc, you can get 175 normal blank disc.
Secondly, you have to buy the Light Scribe or Label Flash compatible optical drive(CD/DVD-ROM) too. Though I don't know how much they cost now, but it is surely more expensive than normal optical drive. Combined the cost of blank disc and optical drive together, they are really really expensive.
Third, not all software supports these technologies, that's another reason you have to fork out money to buy the software too. Freeware such as CD BurnerXP does not support both the Label Flash and Light Scribe, but shareware such as Nero supports them both.
Fourth, you have to wait for the images to be "imprint" on the discs. The drive don't burn and imprint the images at the same time. You have to do one at a time and well, the "imprint" time is not as fast at burning. Light Scribe and Label Flash have to use at least 20 minutes and 7 minutes respectively to finish their imprint.
Fifth, the images that imprinted on the disc are not colorful as rainbow. Heck, they can't even print out more than 1 color. You can only look at the disc to admire the design rather then the color. And when you put the disc into your computer, I highly doubtful you can look at the design.
Finally, you have to store the disc away from extreme heat, humidity and direct sunlight. As if that is not enough, you have make sure your hand is very clean and free of grease to prevent the smearing of your image. This only applies for Light Scribe disc.
Below summarizes drawbacks of using Label Flash and Light Scribe :
- More expensive blank disc as they need to be Light Scribe or Label Flash compatible (roughly 75% more expensive compared to normal blank disc)
- More expensive Light Scribe or Label Flash optical drive
- Have to buy specific software that supports Light Scribe or Label Flash
- Long image "imprint" time (7 minutes for Label Flash and 20 Minutes for Light Scribe)
- Mono colored images
- Exercise precaution when storing the disc (for Light Scribe)
My conclusion is, if you have money to burn, time to wait and have an artistic taste, why not use the Label Flash and Light Scribe. For other who have better things to do with their money and time, a normal blank disc is overall a better choice. In my opinion, disc are only used for storing data files, not a decoration.
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