Dymo DiscPainter

All articles on this site are by Harry Skevington unless otherwise noted with another byline

MAY 23 2008

Dymo DiscPainter
Beats the Rest But at a Price.
I first saw the Dymo DiscPainter at CES way back in January. I loved it. I have tested one for the last few months and still retain that feeling. It is the best option I have found for labeling CDs and DVDs bar none. I have tried stick-on labels that peel and then get stuck in my drive bay, Light-on drives the use a laser to etch an image into the disk, and most often, ended up using the tried and true black sharpie pen. I know there are other printers that are cheaper and do more than only print color on disks. I know they are cheaper and no doubt do an OK job BUT I still find the Dymo DiscPainter is my choice as it does it so easily without fuss. Does this sound like I am a little over the top on this one? Sorry but that is how I feel. It is an amazing toy that does the the task perfectly.

The Printer came well protected in a large box. With the DiscPainter™ CD/DVD printer you also get an inkjet cartridge, Discus for DYMO software, AC adapter, USB cable and 3 glossy waterproof CD's. I removed all the packing, and installed the printer cartridge. The software was setup on the Lenovo ThinkPad loaner.

Here is a photo of 6 different CDs.

web6cdspainted

Many templates are provided in the included Discus for Dymo software. I found so many different layouts and fonts that I went nutty. You can save your designs for reuse or start from scratch each time. I had a few glitches while getting used to the software. It just took a little concentration and I soon was easily designing some fun CD labels. There is a great tutorial on the DiscPainter site. You can also create your own masterpiece in Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkEXpress or other software. The DiscPainter prints in full color, directly on discs, from edge-to-hub up to 1200 dpi. About 60 seconds to print at 600 dpi. At 1200 dpi printing a disc will take up to 3 minutes. The DiscPainter works with Mac or PC.

A collage of photos to represent those on the CD.

webdiscpaintercartirdgein After I printed a few CDs I decide to look into the cost of the product ($279.95) and the proprietary color printer cartridge ($39.95) which is available on the web at (www.dymo.com) or at your local computer or office supply store. The thought of the ongoing expenses brought me down to earth. At this point I have no idea how many disks can be printed before a cartridge runs out. I still feel it is worth it.

Although it is a boring 2 minutes until the disk starts showing in the DiscPainter window you are welcome to go to my video on YouTube and see the creation first-hand. All disks shown here were printed using the Glossy White Media and are hub printable. You can also go to the DiscPainter site to see more video.

Media
It is required that you purchase media that is color printable and of course that costs more then your basic CD/DVD. You must also decide if you want to use matte, white, or Glossy White Media. Glossy White is best and of course costs the most. Some media is fully printable including the hub. Others are not. Media choices in Key West are minimal. But all can be purchased online or on larger cities. Plan on fifty DVDs costing about $35.00

The Dymo DiscPainter is not cheap to buy. Supplies are pricey. So why do I love it? It is fun to watch and creates dazzling, colorful, and eye catching permanent labels right on the media. I am hooked. Take a look at all the information on the Dymo DiscPainter site. Now tell me you don’t want one!