1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,460 Do you remember this little marketing slogan? 2 00:00:05,220 --> 00:00:06,800 No? 3 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:08,960 Well, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. 4 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:10,840 But I’m also a little sad. 5 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,500 That was one of the taglines of LightScribe, a direct-disc labeling technology developed 6 00:00:15,500 --> 00:00:20,120 by Hewlett Packard and first released commercially in 2004. 7 00:00:20,120 --> 00:00:21,120 What is it? 8 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:24,820 Well, it’s a really clever twist on an already common technology. 9 00:00:24,820 --> 00:00:30,580 LightScribe used existing optical drive technology to burn monochrome images onto the label side 10 00:00:30,580 --> 00:00:34,160 of optical media, either CDs or DVDs. 11 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:38,040 That’s right, it’s optical media time again here at Technology Connections, where 12 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:40,360 our mission is to stay timely and relevant. 13 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,560 *beeper noise* 14 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:43,819 Oh, excuse me I need to take this. 15 00:00:43,820 --> 00:00:46,320 [to non-existent assistant offscreen] Uh, can I borrow your phone? 16 00:00:47,140 --> 00:00:51,580 Jokes aside, I actually really, really like the idea of LightScribe, and I think it’s 17 00:00:51,580 --> 00:00:54,480 an absolute shame that it didn’t take off. 18 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:58,440 We’ll soon see that it’s not too surprising it didn’t, but let me explain why I like 19 00:00:58,440 --> 00:00:59,600 it so much. 20 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:03,459 LightScribe is a perfect example of my favorite kind of innovation. 21 00:01:03,459 --> 00:01:08,430 Take a thing that currently does a thing, and make it do more things or different things! 22 00:01:08,430 --> 00:01:13,170 At their core, LightScribe enabled optical drives are pretty much identical to any ordinary 23 00:01:13,170 --> 00:01:14,960 CD or DVD burner. 24 00:01:14,960 --> 00:01:19,820 See, you already have a high-powered laser that’s able to write readable data on a 25 00:01:19,820 --> 00:01:25,270 little plastic frisbee, so why not use that same laser to burn images onto the other side 26 00:01:25,270 --> 00:01:26,830 of that plastic frisbee? 27 00:01:26,830 --> 00:01:31,420 And that’s roughly the exact question that Daryl Anderson, lead engineer of the LightScribe project, 28 00:01:31,420 --> 00:01:34,180 probably asked when he first thought up the product maybe. 29 00:01:34,580 --> 00:01:39,340 The bottom side of any writable optical disc is already a marvel of engineering, with heat-sensitive 30 00:01:39,340 --> 00:01:43,880 dyes or even advanced polycrystalline alloys that darken when exposed to the heat created 31 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:49,109 by the laser light, therefore allowing tiny little marks to be burned into the surface. 32 00:01:49,109 --> 00:01:52,430 These translate into the data that is actually on the disc. 33 00:01:52,430 --> 00:01:56,979 If we’ve made materials that will get darker when exposed to intense laser light, what’s 34 00:01:56,980 --> 00:02:01,880 to stop us from doing the same thing on the top side of the disc, for making an actual label? 35 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:03,200 Well, not much. 36 00:02:03,200 --> 00:02:09,560 In fact, only a small modification was needed to turn an ordinary optical drive into a Lightscribe drive. 37 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:11,800 And you can see it just here. 38 00:02:11,800 --> 00:02:15,610 This little doo-dad allows the drive to see the rotational position of the disc. 39 00:02:15,610 --> 00:02:20,940 See, for writing data to a disc, its geometric position is pretty much irrelevant. 40 00:02:20,940 --> 00:02:25,440 Molded into the plastic of the disc is a spiral pregroove containing the ATIP, which stands 41 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,940 for Absolute Time In Pregrrove. 42 00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:32,460 This not only guides the laser as it writes data to a blank disc, but it also keeps the 43 00:02:32,460 --> 00:02:37,680 disc spinning at the correct speed relative to the data being blasted onto it by the writing laser. 44 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,280 And staying at the correct speed is all that matters, really. 45 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:46,130 The data can be placed arbitrarily along the disc as far as its physical location goes, 46 00:02:46,130 --> 00:02:51,700 and so long as it reproduces the correct sequence of zeros and ones, the correct data will be read. 47 00:02:51,700 --> 00:02:57,520 However, to make an image using a single light source on a rotating disc, the disc’s exact 48 00:02:57,520 --> 00:02:59,780 position needs to be determined. 49 00:02:59,780 --> 00:03:03,370 This little guy works with the LightScribe media to do just that. 50 00:03:03,370 --> 00:03:08,150 A LightScribe disc looks just like a regular disc, except the top is almost entirely devoid 51 00:03:08,150 --> 00:03:12,820 of writing, save for a little bit of brand and format identification in the center ring. 52 00:03:12,820 --> 00:03:16,860 But you’ll also see this little barcode looking thing between the spindle hole and 53 00:03:16,870 --> 00:03:19,000 the writable portion of the disc. 54 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:23,880 When the disc is placed upside down in a LightScribe enabled drive, the barcode will line up with 55 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:25,730 that scanner thing. 56 00:03:25,730 --> 00:03:30,150 Now the drive can know the disc’s absolute rotational position so it creates a proper image, 57 00:03:30,150 --> 00:03:33,130 and not a spirally mess. 58 00:03:33,130 --> 00:03:37,340 That barcode also encodes information about the label surface, which is pretty important 59 00:03:37,340 --> 00:03:40,820 particularly because of the difference between CDs and DVDs. 60 00:03:40,820 --> 00:03:43,920 Ah, let’s talk a little bit more about the disc itself. 61 00:03:43,920 --> 00:03:48,350 The top surface of most lightscribe discs is this light tan color. 62 00:03:48,350 --> 00:03:53,600 The color comes from the material used in the top coating, developed by Dr. Makarand Gore. 63 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:58,000 Just like the dye coating on the underside, this coating will get darker when it is heated 64 00:03:58,010 --> 00:03:59,210 up by the laser. 65 00:03:59,210 --> 00:04:03,940 But, it differs from the dye layer down below in that it gets much, much darker, 66 00:04:03,940 --> 00:04:05,620 almost black. 67 00:04:05,620 --> 00:04:10,160 Through a simple labeling utility, you can create simple text listings, or even beautiful 68 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:12,800 monochrome pictures like this one. 69 00:04:12,980 --> 00:04:13,480 [pregnant pause] 70 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,100 Well now, this is beginning to highlight the problems of lightscribe, but before we get 71 00:04:18,100 --> 00:04:22,170 too far down that particular rabbit hole, let’s take a look at how this works. 72 00:04:22,170 --> 00:04:26,120 I’ve taken the cover off of this slim drive so we can see it in action. 73 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:29,220 I’m having it make a simple label with the word “Test”. 74 00:04:29,220 --> 00:04:34,210 First, you can see the scanner activating to read the barcode on the inner ring. 75 00:04:34,210 --> 00:04:39,240 Once I started the printing process, I was extremely surprised at how slowly the disc 76 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:40,840 spins when it’s being labeled. 77 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:42,380 Look at this! 78 00:04:42,380 --> 00:04:43,380 This is nuts. 79 00:04:43,550 --> 00:04:46,520 Luckily, we can see the laser shining through. 80 00:04:46,530 --> 00:04:49,440 Notice how it flashes briefly at a higher intensity. 81 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,720 This is it burning the letters onto the disc. 82 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,510 What’s interesting here is that the laser is switched on at all times. 83 00:04:55,510 --> 00:05:00,880 I’m not sure if any LightScribe drives were made that could only burn CDs, so I’m wondering 84 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,820 if we’re seeing the red laser diode for DVDs burn with a steady glow, and the flashing 85 00:05:05,820 --> 00:05:09,920 is the high intensity infrared laser diode blasting the disc with energy. 86 00:05:10,780 --> 00:05:13,000 ♫ low fidelity guitar music ♫ 87 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:29,380 Perhaps we’re only seeing one or the other, 88 00:05:29,380 --> 00:05:30,940 ♫ the music returns briefly ♫ 89 00:05:30,940 --> 00:05:35,910 but in either case, this suggests that the drive is actually looking at the surface of the disc, perhaps 90 00:05:35,910 --> 00:05:40,200 simply for focus, or maybe it actually checks what it’s laid down. 91 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:44,600 Whatever it’s doing, I still can’t get over how slowly the disc is spinning! 92 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,660 That’s a surprise. 93 00:05:46,660 --> 00:05:47,890 But maybe not. 94 00:05:47,890 --> 00:05:49,780 I’ll explain in a bit. 95 00:05:49,780 --> 00:05:54,600 With the disc completed, we can now take it out and sure enough, there’s the word “Test” 96 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:56,880 just like we expected. 97 00:05:58,380 --> 00:06:01,250 But there’s more weirdness in the LightScribe universe. 98 00:06:01,250 --> 00:06:04,360 Like the stark difference between CDs and DVDs. 99 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:09,890 I’ve created a basic label and I’ve burned the same thing onto a CD-R and a DVD-R. You 100 00:06:09,890 --> 00:06:14,000 might notice that they look mostly similar, but the DVD label is almost... 101 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,670 blurry looking. 102 00:06:15,670 --> 00:06:20,810 This is an odd quirk in the Lightscribe universe, as DVDs and CDs were made very differently. 103 00:06:20,810 --> 00:06:23,910 Well, OK, all DVDs and CDs are made differently. 104 00:06:23,910 --> 00:06:28,590 In a CD, the data layer is actually barely below the label side of the disc. 105 00:06:28,590 --> 00:06:33,050 The laser in a CD player is shining through almost the entire thickness of the disc before 106 00:06:33,050 --> 00:06:35,330 the reflective surface bounces it back. 107 00:06:35,330 --> 00:06:38,880 But in a DVD, the data layer is actually in the middle of the disc. 108 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:43,889 You can see this even with standard DVD movies--the disc has a seam down the middle, as it’s 109 00:06:43,889 --> 00:06:45,170 made in two halves. 110 00:06:45,170 --> 00:06:49,650 CD’s don’t have this seam, as they are a single sheet of polycarbonate. 111 00:06:49,650 --> 00:06:53,760 Now for some reason, in LightScribe DVDs, the label coating isn’t simply placed on 112 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:55,160 the top of the disc. 113 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:59,940 Instead, it’s sandwiched between a top clear layer and the data layer beneath it. 114 00:06:59,940 --> 00:07:04,751 And this is why a LightScribe drive needs to know if this is a DVD or a CD--the drive 115 00:07:04,751 --> 00:07:08,980 will focus at different depths depending on which type of media is used. 116 00:07:08,980 --> 00:07:13,360 This always struck me as kinda odd, as what’s to stop them from putting the same CD-style 117 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:17,760 label coating on the actual top of a standard DVD-R? 118 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:21,340 Putting it in the middle like this meant that all LightScribe DVD labels looked a little 119 00:07:21,340 --> 00:07:26,500 soft compared to those of CDs, however it does appear to increase contrast slightly 120 00:07:26,500 --> 00:07:31,560 between light and dark, but that could simply be down to the particular discs I’ve got here. 121 00:07:31,620 --> 00:07:33,840 That said, there was an advantage to this. 122 00:07:33,850 --> 00:07:38,960 Firstly, the label surface is more protected in a LightScribe DVD because it’s not exposed. 123 00:07:38,960 --> 00:07:43,140 And secondly, a fairly common occurrence with LightScribe media is for a white powder to 124 00:07:43,140 --> 00:07:46,320 form on top of the black portions of the label. 125 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,260 This was simply a side-effect of the burning process and it was purported to be a harmless 126 00:07:50,260 --> 00:07:54,870 crystallization of the label layer, however it would get on your fingers if you touched 127 00:07:54,870 --> 00:07:58,419 it and wasn’t really pleasant looking on the disc. 128 00:07:58,419 --> 00:08:02,290 With a DVD, that happened much less frequently due to the protected and sealed nature of 129 00:08:02,290 --> 00:08:06,790 the label, and even if it did, at least the powder wouldn’t get all over your fingers. 130 00:08:06,790 --> 00:08:09,940 So, how do you actually create a LightScribe label? 131 00:08:09,940 --> 00:08:14,151 Well first, you need to make sure that you have both LightScribe media and a LightScribe 132 00:08:14,151 --> 00:08:18,470 enabled optical drive, plus the necessary LightScribe system utilities and some sort 133 00:08:18,470 --> 00:08:22,620 of program for creating labels like this Nero Smart Essentials thing. 134 00:08:22,620 --> 00:08:24,229 You know, easy. 135 00:08:24,229 --> 00:08:27,410 But assuming you have all of that ready to go, it’s pretty simple. 136 00:08:27,410 --> 00:08:32,860 The Nero software is about as user-friendly as can be for 2004-ish, and it does something 137 00:08:32,860 --> 00:08:37,500 that at first seems really really weird, but you will quickly learn is totally understandable. 138 00:08:37,500 --> 00:08:42,160 I’ll add a text box and as soon as I do so, that box becomes a… 139 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:43,120 crescent? 140 00:08:43,620 --> 00:08:44,860 Erm, OK. 141 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,280 Well, from here, I have a pretty good degree of customization. 142 00:08:48,290 --> 00:08:53,110 I can choose my typeface, its font size, bold and italics, its justification and all that, 143 00:08:53,110 --> 00:08:55,410 just like a basic word processor. 144 00:08:55,410 --> 00:08:59,459 And then I hit OK, and it gets wrapped around that crescent thing. 145 00:08:59,459 --> 00:09:04,000 Well, I can turn that off by unselecting the “Bend” checkbox, and now things look a 146 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:05,360 little more normal. 147 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:10,100 Let’s just do some quick customization here, maybe add a little something extra, and now 148 00:09:10,100 --> 00:09:14,680 I think that’s a delightful design, worthy of a LightScribe label. 149 00:09:14,680 --> 00:09:19,640 So now, I’ll grab my CD which already has my Awesome Mix 2006 on it, and I’ll pop 150 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:21,889 it upside-down into the drive. 151 00:09:21,889 --> 00:09:23,439 I can now burn the label. 152 00:09:23,439 --> 00:09:27,920 So, I hit the little button, and now I can select between “Draft, Normal, and Best”. 153 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:32,990 I can even get a preview of what this will look like on the finished disc, a handy little feature. 154 00:09:32,990 --> 00:09:37,309 Of course, I don’t settle for less than the best, so I’ll hit Best, and now here’s 155 00:09:37,309 --> 00:09:40,759 where LightScribe’s weaknesses really come into play. 156 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,240 It tells me this will take about 15 minutes. 157 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:45,500 Well, that’s a lie right there. 158 00:09:45,510 --> 00:09:49,060 This is gonna take more like 23 to 25 minutes. 159 00:09:49,060 --> 00:09:51,850 Yeah, LightScribe is anything but fast. 160 00:09:51,850 --> 00:09:53,350 But that’s not unexpected. 161 00:09:53,350 --> 00:09:57,810 Remember one of its design goals was to avoid reinventing the wheel and use existing optical 162 00:09:57,810 --> 00:09:59,430 drive technology. 163 00:09:59,430 --> 00:10:00,819 And for the most part it did. 164 00:10:00,819 --> 00:10:04,060 But, let’s think for a moment how limiting that was. 165 00:10:04,060 --> 00:10:09,290 The laser in a CD burner is normally focusing its power onto a microscopic spot, so all 166 00:10:09,290 --> 00:10:14,640 of its power becomes concentrated and realistically the laser doesn’t need to be all that powerful. 167 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:19,220 But if we’re trying to draw with it, we don’t want it to be focused onto a microscopic 168 00:10:19,230 --> 00:10:21,370 point that we can’t see. 169 00:10:21,370 --> 00:10:25,920 When burning a label, a LightScribe drive actually defocuses the laser so that the point 170 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:29,249 it’s burning is larger (and actually visible). 171 00:10:29,249 --> 00:10:31,880 But that means that the disc has to travel more slowly, 172 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,660 as we now know, WAY MORE SLOWLY, 173 00:10:35,660 --> 00:10:40,180 because with a less concentrated spot, the energy is more spread out, and the laser can’t 174 00:10:40,180 --> 00:10:42,279 heat the label as quickly. 175 00:10:42,279 --> 00:10:43,279 Bummer. 176 00:10:43,279 --> 00:10:47,920 And, because the drives were only lightly modified from standard optical drives, the 177 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,680 discs could only spin in one direction. 178 00:10:50,680 --> 00:10:54,949 That might not seem like a limitation, but that’s precisely why the label-making program 179 00:10:54,949 --> 00:10:57,400 would bend the text by default. 180 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:02,320 See, the time it takes to burn a label is directly dependent on the range from the inside 181 00:11:02,340 --> 00:11:06,040 boundary to the outside circumference that is being used. 182 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,500 And by being used, I mean AT ALL. 183 00:11:09,500 --> 00:11:15,040 Even if just a thin line is drawn from here to here, the label will take 25 minutes to create. 184 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,300 This is because it can’t just rock the disc back and forth to make that line. 185 00:11:19,300 --> 00:11:23,589 It burns the label just like it burns data, so it has to follow a spiral starting from 186 00:11:23,589 --> 00:11:27,940 the inside boundary and going all the way to the outside edge. 187 00:11:27,940 --> 00:11:30,060 Remember that Test label? 188 00:11:30,070 --> 00:11:34,769 It spent the majority of the time with the laser off, and because it can’t just skip 189 00:11:34,769 --> 00:11:40,189 the blank parts of the label, it takes a long time to write just a single word. 190 00:11:40,189 --> 00:11:44,069 But the drive CAN skip blank sections along the disc’s radius. 191 00:11:44,069 --> 00:11:49,649 So, if you bend the text into a ring, then only this region is actually being used. 192 00:11:49,649 --> 00:11:53,750 So the drive can skip all this, burn from here to here, and then it’s done. 193 00:11:53,750 --> 00:11:56,100 And here’s how that comes into play. 194 00:11:56,100 --> 00:12:00,319 This disc here, even though it’s just a small amount of text, took about 25 minutes 195 00:12:00,319 --> 00:12:01,420 to make. 196 00:12:01,420 --> 00:12:06,960 The text gets very close to the inside edge, and continues almost all the way to the outside edge. 197 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:12,200 So even though none of this space is being used, the laser still had to travel over all of it. 198 00:12:12,200 --> 00:12:16,500 But this disc, with much more written information, only took about 10 minutes. 199 00:12:16,509 --> 00:12:20,910 All of the text is contained between these two boundaries, so the inside portion could 200 00:12:20,910 --> 00:12:24,399 be skipped, and the drive didn’t need to burn anything past here. 201 00:12:24,399 --> 00:12:30,329 So, to save time, the program is always going to encourage you to bend the text like this, 202 00:12:30,329 --> 00:12:33,399 as these labels can me made in as little as 5 minutes. 203 00:12:33,399 --> 00:12:37,100 If you’re OK with 12 point font, this can get down to 2. 204 00:12:37,100 --> 00:12:41,399 With that limitation, though, how attractive is the system, really? 205 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:45,260 Sure, this is more legible than a sharpie, but if you want to make … 206 00:12:45,260 --> 00:12:47,380 professional looking labels like this, 207 00:12:47,380 --> 00:12:51,760 you’ll be spending at least 15 minutes each go, and probably more. 208 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,420 You could save some time by selecting either the “draft” or “normal” settings, 209 00:12:55,420 --> 00:13:00,760 but those sacrifice burn intensity and/or resolution and will produce a lighter image. 210 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:04,160 And the lengthiness of the burn process isn’t the only weakness. 211 00:13:04,160 --> 00:13:07,910 You may have noticed how low-contrast this atrocity was. 212 00:13:07,910 --> 00:13:10,600 Ignoring the fact that it’s a monochrome image 213 00:13:10,600 --> 00:13:12,520 (c’mon, we’re not making miracles here) 214 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:17,260 this is a rather low-contrast affair even when burned on the “best” setting. 215 00:13:17,260 --> 00:13:23,380 LightScribe looks pretty good with black text, but introduce images and things get less optimal. 216 00:13:23,389 --> 00:13:27,649 In order to look their best on a LightScribe label, the image should be adjusted to have 217 00:13:27,649 --> 00:13:32,260 borderline extreme contrast, an adjustment that is unfortunately omitted 218 00:13:32,260 --> 00:13:34,220 from this labeling utility. 219 00:13:34,220 --> 00:13:37,079 And the image quality concerns don’t stop there. 220 00:13:37,079 --> 00:13:41,089 Look a little more closely at these labels and you’ll see that the text isn’t entirely 221 00:13:41,089 --> 00:13:42,730 aligned right. 222 00:13:42,730 --> 00:13:46,040 There is a slight shifting going on at many points. 223 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:50,589 Some of this is likely down to my particular LightScribe drive, but the format was prone 224 00:13:50,589 --> 00:13:52,629 to this happening from time to time. 225 00:13:52,629 --> 00:13:56,300 I’ve even had a few discs come out as a complete mess, 226 00:13:56,300 --> 00:13:58,760 likely due to a dirty barcode ring. 227 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,399 This is real, by the way, this is supposed to have words on it. 228 00:14:02,399 --> 00:14:06,140 And here’s one image abnormality that’s appeared on every single LightScribe disc 229 00:14:06,140 --> 00:14:07,689 I’ve ever made. 230 00:14:07,689 --> 00:14:13,200 You can see the actual spiral pattern of the laser’s travel in solidly dark portions. 231 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,220 Of course, I think that’s pretty neat but let’s be honest, it’s a flaw. 232 00:14:17,230 --> 00:14:20,500 You’re probably thinking of another flaw to LightScribe that kept it from reaching 233 00:14:20,500 --> 00:14:23,060 mass popularity: Cost. 234 00:14:23,060 --> 00:14:26,279 LightScribe drivers were probably stupid expensive, and the discs? 235 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:27,980 Pfft, waste of money. 236 00:14:27,980 --> 00:14:29,380 Actually, no. 237 00:14:29,740 --> 00:14:33,459 The drives themselves were barely any more expensive than standard drives. 238 00:14:33,459 --> 00:14:37,450 Even in the early days, there were plenty of LightScribe enabled drives that actually 239 00:14:37,450 --> 00:14:41,610 cost less than standard drives from some competing manufacturers. 240 00:14:41,610 --> 00:14:46,660 Remember, there’s not much different about a LightScribe drive, and HP was happy to license 241 00:14:46,660 --> 00:14:48,399 it to many manufacturers. 242 00:14:48,399 --> 00:14:54,410 By 2005, 6 different drive manufacturers had signed on to make LightScribe drives. 243 00:14:54,410 --> 00:14:57,840 And the media was a bit more expensive than standard blank media, 244 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,300 but honestly not by much. 245 00:15:00,300 --> 00:15:04,939 Assuming you were sticking to mainstream brands and not bargain basement specials, an equivalent 246 00:15:04,940 --> 00:15:11,640 LightScribe disc from the same manufacturer was only about 20 to maybe 50% more expensive. 247 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,540 It’s hard to make a comparison now because LightScribe is pretty much dead, but I recall 248 00:15:16,540 --> 00:15:23,520 that a spindle of 50 LightScribe DVDs was about $30, and CDs were between $22 and $25. 249 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:27,860 Honestly that seemed very reasonable to me, especially because there’s an added cost 250 00:15:27,860 --> 00:15:31,569 to either paper labels or inkjet-printable CDs. 251 00:15:31,569 --> 00:15:33,139 Oh, paper labels. 252 00:15:33,139 --> 00:15:34,139 Ugh. 253 00:15:34,139 --> 00:15:35,529 How I hated paper labels. 254 00:15:35,529 --> 00:15:40,269 That was the single greatest advantage of LightScribe in my eyes, as they worked great 255 00:15:40,269 --> 00:15:41,639 in cars. 256 00:15:41,639 --> 00:15:46,980 A CD with a paper label never behaves too nicely with the slot loading players in cars 257 00:15:46,980 --> 00:15:50,360 or many Apple products back when they included optical drives 258 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:51,720 and headphone jacks. 259 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:56,279 LightScribe discs just looked great without any compatibility issues, and everyone who 260 00:15:56,279 --> 00:15:59,420 I ever gave one to was impressed with them. 261 00:15:59,420 --> 00:16:03,959 So really, it’s just a little sad that no one cared to use them more. 262 00:16:03,959 --> 00:16:05,149 But, I understand. 263 00:16:05,149 --> 00:16:10,429 A sharpie and a cheap CD is pretty sufficient, particularly since so many burned discs were 264 00:16:10,429 --> 00:16:12,989 just throwaway affairs to begin with. 265 00:16:12,989 --> 00:16:15,949 And there were still more problems with LightScribe. 266 00:16:15,949 --> 00:16:20,879 The label surface is pretty susceptible to wear (in CDs anyway), and it can fade quickly 267 00:16:20,879 --> 00:16:26,129 if left in direct sunlight or exposed to extreme heat, and over a period of years the label 268 00:16:26,129 --> 00:16:28,829 will fade regardless unless cared for. 269 00:16:28,829 --> 00:16:31,790 They can last a long time if cared for, though. 270 00:16:31,790 --> 00:16:36,560 These backup discs for my netbook (that’s right, netbook, remember those?) are around 271 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,720 7 or 8 years old now and the labels look fine. 272 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,989 Granted, these are DVDs with the inherent protection of the top surface layer. 273 00:16:43,989 --> 00:16:45,780 Where is LightScribe today? 274 00:16:45,780 --> 00:16:47,540 Officially deceased. 275 00:16:47,540 --> 00:16:49,500 You knew it was coming, didn’t you? 276 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:54,660 HP officially ended LightScribe support in 2013 by removing its website and even going 277 00:16:54,660 --> 00:17:00,260 so far as to say “you can find the software you need somewhere else, not here.” 278 00:17:00,260 --> 00:17:04,940 And while you can still get LightScribe drives and media, it’s pretty much new old stock 279 00:17:04,949 --> 00:17:06,419 only at this point. 280 00:17:06,419 --> 00:17:11,970 Today, you can find the LightScribe utilities you may need at lightscribesoftware.org, a 281 00:17:11,970 --> 00:17:16,000 website run by Steve Nelson who is really going out of his way to keep LightScribe support 282 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,000 going. 283 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,880 And indeed, I owe him thanks, as I needed to download the system utility to make the 284 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:22,439 discs for this video. 285 00:17:22,439 --> 00:17:27,539 But before it died, LightScribe was improved by offering discs in other colors, but that 286 00:17:27,539 --> 00:17:30,350 was about all the innovation it ever received. 287 00:17:30,350 --> 00:17:35,320 If they could have gotten a full label done in 5 minutes, I think it would have fared better. 288 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:40,640 But then again, that would probably require a much stronger laser than what’s in a garden 289 00:17:40,649 --> 00:17:47,289 variety optical drive, making the drive much more expensive, and further limiting appeal. 290 00:17:47,289 --> 00:17:50,080 Oh well, it was neat while it lasted. 291 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,000 Thanks for watching, I hope you enjoyed this look into what I honestly feel like is perhaps 292 00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:57,980 the most underappreciated development in optical disc history. 293 00:17:57,980 --> 00:18:01,500 I don’t know what could have been done to make LightScribe a little more popular because 294 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:07,179 let’s face it, how often did you even want to make a nice label for your angsty mixes? 295 00:18:07,179 --> 00:18:11,950 And if you needed to make discs professionally, it’s just far too slow and by that point 296 00:18:11,950 --> 00:18:16,299 you would be wiser to invest in some sort of screen printing setup or even just having 297 00:18:16,299 --> 00:18:18,990 ordering discs to be commercially pressed. 298 00:18:18,990 --> 00:18:23,299 It was always going to be a niche product, even though it was pretty neat. 299 00:18:23,299 --> 00:18:27,370 As always, thank you to everyone who supports the channel on Patreon, especially the fine 300 00:18:27,370 --> 00:18:29,710 folks that are scrolling up your screen. 301 00:18:29,710 --> 00:18:35,130 A lot of channels here on YouTube need to rely on outside sponsorships to stay possible. 302 00:18:35,130 --> 00:18:39,380 But thanks to the amazing support of people like you, this channel doesn’t. 303 00:18:39,380 --> 00:18:43,220 If you’d like to become one of these awesome people and help support the channel, and get 304 00:18:43,220 --> 00:18:47,970 behind-the-scenes access, sneak peaks, and other perks, please check out my Patreon page. 305 00:18:47,970 --> 00:18:50,680 Thanks for your consideration, and I’ll see you next time. 306 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:53,000 And now, the outtro music. 307 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:57,160 ♫ suspiciously smooth jazz ♫ 308 00:18:59,820 --> 00:19:04,580 A bonus fact about LightScribe: Because of that barcode thing, the disc actually has 309 00:19:04,580 --> 00:19:06,769 a natural orientation. 310 00:19:06,769 --> 00:19:11,320 This means you can add something to an already labeled disc simply by burning something onto 311 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:12,909 it in the unused area. 312 00:19:12,909 --> 00:19:18,690 So, my Awesome Mix 2006 can be amended with a warning for non-awesome people. 313 00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:23,450 Also, this allowed you to burn the same label again, which would make it a little darker, 314 00:19:23,450 --> 00:19:28,710 but with repeated burns slight alignment errors would compound and make the image increasingly 315 00:19:28,710 --> 00:19:29,500 blurry. 316 00:19:29,500 --> 00:19:34,560 LightScribe was not the first direct-disc labeling product, nor would it be the last. 317 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:40,900 In 2002, Yamaha had developed the disturbingly named DiscT@2 (pronounced “Disc Tattoo”) 318 00:19:40,980 --> 00:19:42,020 --uh that’s terrible-- 319 00:19:42,020 --> 00:19:45,200 which could etch a sorta-label on the bottom side of a CD or 320 00:19:45,210 --> 00:19:48,190 DVD in the unused data portion. 321 00:19:48,190 --> 00:19:53,090 Um, lots of problems there, you can’t use it unless the disc isn’t anywhere near full, 322 00:19:53,090 --> 00:19:58,950 the “label” is on the bottom side so not really a label, and also these weren’t radically 323 00:19:58,950 --> 00:20:02,509 easy-to-see because the dye layer isn’t meant for that. 324 00:20:02,509 --> 00:20:06,880 Nevertheless, it was briefly a thing, but had very little support. 325 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:11,160 NEC would later use Yamaha’s patent on DiscT@2 326 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,100 (seriously, that’s an awful name) 327 00:20:13,100 --> 00:20:17,440 to create LabelFlash, which was a direct competitor to LightScribe. 328 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:22,580 This came out in 2006, with the discs having a bright blue label on top. 329 00:20:22,580 --> 00:20:27,740 It fared even worse than LightScribe, probably because it was a later format with less manufacturer 330 00:20:27,740 --> 00:20:32,730 support, the discs were way more expensive than LightScribe media (like 2 or 3 times 331 00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:36,870 more expensive) and it also was limited to DVDs only. 332 00:20:36,870 --> 00:20:39,919 And I’ll leave you with something that I can’t demonstrate unless smell-o-vision 333 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:41,260 takes off. 334 00:20:41,260 --> 00:20:44,380 LightScribe media has a very distinctive odor. 335 00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:49,560 Crack open a fresh spindle of LightScribe discs and you’ll be greeted with a not-unpleasant 336 00:20:49,570 --> 00:20:53,590 but certainly unnatural mild chemical smell. 337 00:20:53,590 --> 00:20:57,500 The best way to describe it is, I think, musty crayons. 338 00:20:58,580 --> 00:21:03,380 Yeah, it’s a little musty but also plasticy and like hot wax. 339 00:21:03,389 --> 00:21:04,889 Musty crayons. 340 00:21:04,889 --> 00:21:09,760 I actually kinda like it, but I have a feeling it’s not exactly healthy.