I picked up this little gem for labeling the DVD's I sell. Sure beats a sharpie! I had read some negative reviews on the product but I must say it works great for me. Casio CW-E60.After you tear into the ridiculously secure packaging and find all the print material that comes with it you will find the CD software, power supply, ribbon, USB cord and two fold out instruction posters. Folded like a map and very hard to follow the instructions are pretty useless beyond setting up the unit. But here's the skinny.
Load the ribbon first, load the software second then hook up the cords. The software that comes with it is pretty basic. Nowhere in any of the material or software did I find how to load a disc. Do you slide it in upside down to print on the top? Push it all the way or start it hanging out? After some trial & error, and not wanting to waste ribbon I figured out it will not print unless slid all the way in, and yes you put the disc in up side down to print on the top.
The software itself is basic and not too terribly intuitive. But software is my game and after a bit of exploring I really didn't need a manual. I did access the Help section and found it very basic too. In time I figured out the basic functions and was off printing labels!
Really it's pretty simple. Still haven't tried a logo image yet and found that if I load one I don't see it on the icon representing the printed disc, so I assume it does it but doesn't show it on the icon label in the software. I will explore that soon.
The information about it says you can get about 20 DVD's printed off one ribbon so let me advise you now, buy extra ribbons. Amazon has a three-pack for $20.00. The ribbons are about the size of a matchbox. Tiny!
It is fast, I thought it may swipe the disc back & forth to print but the basic labels I printed just slid through one time and were perfect. I was not trying to fill up the DVD, Just drop a couple of lines on the DVD with the title, volume and © notice.
It needs an OFF button. To turn it off I just unplugged the power supply from the back. I don't know if this is necessary but being a "thermal" printer, I don't want the head to burn up. So, off it went.
It is only about 6 inches long and doesn't take up much desk space. I have it next to my PC speaker and right in front of me so I can use it as I burn DVD's.
Here are some specs:
- Software - Disc Title Printer Version 3.03
- Printing Area - 74mm x 16mm
- Printing Speed - 8 mm per second
- Dimensions - Height 67 x Width 154 x Depth 126 mm
There is more about it here at Amazon, plus they have it for a good price. I got mine for twenty bucks off eBay. The seller only had one. I took a chance even after reading some of the negative reviews on amazon.com. Glad I did. It does do what it is supposed to do, print labels nicely.I print on Phillips DVD-R media and the printer worked well on them. They are silver with some writing on the front but plenty of room to slap a label on them in the open spaces. I have found Phillips to be a good high quality DVD-r Disc. My tutorials and stock footage play well on them.
If you are looking for an inexpensive way to label DVD's this is a good investment. They make another model with a keyboard but I felt the software only version was good enough for my purposes. At the rate I sell software I will probably be buying ribbons quickly though. Stick on paper labels are not an option for me, I've had too many issues with them. Consider the investment of more label cartridges when you purchase and keep a stock handy if you print many DVDs. It is not compatible with Windows Vista.
Overall, yes I recommend this product. It's inexpensive and does what it is supposed to, print basic labels. I will be using it to print black labels with text only for the time being. For that, it shines!
J.
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