Adhesive Labels or Protective Disc Covers on CDs or DVDs: A Big Taboo

[mayfielh]

Originally Posted by Webwader

He meant you hit the nail on the head, Mayfielh.

That's what I thought but wasn't 100%

[Halabar]

OK, a few notes here from my experiences.... (and I'm too lazy to read the entire thread now...)

The Sharpie(tm) markers are the best for marking the modern CDR discs. Some of the water/alcohol based ones never adhere to the surface, and come off. However, some of the older white (inkjet printable) discs will have the markings from a sharpie bleed after a few years, possibly effecting the data.

The best route to go is to get the inkjet-printable discs, and them use a water-based pen.

Never use labels. The heat in any in-dash player will make them peel.

For archival purposes, the biggest problem is the changes in the players. I have discs that I burned several years ago, that the new DVD-ROM/RAM/whatever drives have problems reading, but they work in other drives/players.

For archival purposes, the gold discs are the best.

Try to burn discs at the same speed they will be played, if possible. Helps with compatibility.

[ridgeln]

Lady's Buck -

I bought my first CD player ($350) during my freshman year in college - my roommate told me "CD's won't Last." I still remind him of that. My parents never had a car with anything other than AM radio growing up. My father still thinks that having FM in a car is a "luxury."

-ridgeln

[Jealous1]

I've owned a ford ranger, & Chrysler PT Cruiser & have never had any problems with the labels I've put on the CD's. It's interesting to see that someone has. Just bought an external DVD/RW hard drive with the light scribe feature, so I won't be making anymore disc labels....

[Duncan223]

I'm a recovering DJ and can tell you from experience - sticker labels suck.

Heat causes problems with the sticker labels...

Age causes problems...

Even worse, the adhesive used on some sticker labels, when pulling away from the disc, pulls the coating (which contains the information) off the plastic disc and BAM!!! the disc no longer works.

[kanji]

there are new burners out in the market uses the laser to write on the media. Some burners call them lightscribe or laser etching. It will scribe any type of label you instruct it to, so that will prevent you to either stick something on or use a cd label. These burners will ask you after burning your compilation to flip the cd or DVD over to scribe the label on via laser. my 3cent

[Tom Jones]

Originally Posted by kanji

there are new burners out in the market uses the laser to write on the media. Some burners call them lightscribe or laser etching. It will scribe any type of label you instruct it to, so that will prevent you to either stick something on or use a cd label. These burners will ask you after burning your compilation to flip the cd or DVD over to scribe the label on via laser. my 3cent

kanji, good point. These burners are getting less expensive each day. They come in all the latest laptops and desktops. They are also available in external format so the older computers can take advantage of them. It is a slow process but works great and allows creativity in your labeling. Another option, which I use is the old "Permanent Magic Marker". With the cheap cost of bulk CD's today if I mislable it I can pitch it, make a new one in 5 mins and forget it. MTCW.
Tom

[oldcoastie]

I was curious about Honda's claim about the thickness differences in types of CDs, so I measured the thickness of pre-recorded CDs vs. the recordables in our collection.

The pre-recorded CDs we have (I measured 8 of them) vary from 0.0435" to 0.048" thick; the recordable CDs I've used measure 0.044" to 0.047" thick. So my measurements, limited though they may be, indicate that there is no real difference.

I don't see the thickness "difference" described by Honda as a problem, but the labels would add another layer of thickness which may cause a problem.

BTW, I have never used the labels, since I don't trust the adhesives or the actual label stock, and I was always worried about heat in a vehicle adversely affecting the labels.

[jrridge]

My tech just pulled out a DVD that had stuck due to a paper label, customer was LUCKY! We no charged it with a stern warning!!

[06rtl]

i just recently got my cd changer replaced under warranty for not workin....wondering if this was the case.....won't use cd's with labels anymore though....