filkertom | Home CD Tech (Reply)

An update on what's working, and not, for me with burning CD-Rs:

I like the overall sound of Memorex media best, but they have a higher error rate for burning. Not the finished product -- I've only had to replace a half-dozen or so out of hundreds. I'm trying Imation, which is way better than it was a few years ago, and have only had one burn error so far... but it crashed my machine.
Memorex CD labels are superb. Period. I ran out, and I had a package of Fellowes/Neato, and they look good, but even though the package says "matte" the paper is so slick that I have to manually load in each page... and the labels curl too readily, which makes applying them a little tricky.
The CD Stomper is the best hand tool for applying labels. Period.
Sure Thing software (current version 4.3.0196) is phenomenal. It's got a small learning curve, but once you suss it it's fast, flexible, and powerful. And, if you don't have a head for layouts, it gives you scads of 'em, some of which come in coordinated packages (so you can match, for instance, the CD label, the jewel case insert, and the tray insert).
Lightscribe disks look great... but they take about a half-hour to burn with sufficient contrast. If I have lots of lead time, fine. If my computer's not doing anything else, fine. If it's a one-off, fine. But I'm not going to be able to use them for convention stock until they speed the process up a lot.

What are you all working with, especially you musicians creating merchandise?