Dymo DiscPainter CD/DVD Color Printer (1738260)

I'm on my second Dymo DiscPainter. The first one printed one disc, then the ink cartridge leaked all over the inside of the printer and I wasn't able to print another disc. I just got a replacement and I've managed to squeeze one disc out of it after plugging and unplugging it over and over again for about 30 minutes. Windows sees the printer, but as soon as I hit the Print button in the Dymo software, the LED on the printer goes RED and an error message pops up saying "A critical error has occurred inside the printer." That's helpful. Even though Dymo supports Macs, the printer won't even work at all on the Mac.

And even when I did get these piles of plastic junk to work, the print quality is HORRIBLE. Even on the BEST settings, there are large circles in the printed image from the spinning. Absolutely worthless. If you get a good unit, you're lucky. This second one is my last. Time to return it and get something designed by someone with actual engineering experience.

I bought one, printed one DVD, and it failed. After that it never printed another, as it had a bad diagnostic LED message. Tech support confirmed that it needed to be returned. I replaced it, and the new item never printed, it powered on out of the box with the same diagnostic error code. Amazon took that item back too.

I've used sticker CD labels extensively for many years without any problems. In my opinion CD Stomper is an excellent cheap way to make great looking CD labels. With that, this is not to say I was looking for a better alternative, like some of those who have a strong resentment for this type of CD labeling system, I just have a thing for new tech gadgets. Before the Dymo DiscPainter I never would've thought of buying a CD/DVD printer, but after seeing the eye-catching advertisements I was starting to get intrigued. So I did some research and read some reviews. There were only two things that was holding me back. From reading the reviews and some of the descriptions I learned that the ink only has three colors, and no black. So my first concern was how good the quality was going to be. Believe me once you print your first disc on this printer you won't be disappointed! The second concern was if it could do hub printing (I think that's what the term is), when you can print all the way to the center of the disc. The software that this comes with goes way beyond the call of duty. Not only does it print the entire surface of the disc, but you can specify the printing area to accommodate for any brand or style of printable CD/DVD media. I have to admit that this review may be biased since I've never used any other CD/DVD printer, and they all may have the same features as the Dymo DiscPainter, but if you just look at this product for what it can do I was way beyond impressed. Some people think that this is overpriced, but after a few hours of experimenting, and a stack of professional looking discs I knew I got my monies worth.

Some things you may want to know:
This printer can print on three different types of discs. Glossy (it comes with three glossy CD-Rs). After you print one of these discs you'll be left speechless. The other two are your typical matte white printable discs, and the other is silver. This is not the shiny silver discs, it's more of a matte finish. I tried on the regular silver ones and the ink won't even bond to the surface. Also, you can choose the quality and quantity you want to print.

The thing that impressed me the most was the software. Some labeling systems give you only templates and a few basic editing tools to use, which leaves you needing third-party photo editing software to get your labels looking nice. However, the software that comes with the DiscPainter is a full disc creation suite with no additional software required. It's not Photoshop, but it's ten times more elaborate than Microsoft Paint. You can use layers, and grids to align your layers, there's even a whole section of tools to adjust your text just the way you want.

What I also like about the DiscPainter is the way it looks, which is what caught my eye in the first place. The design is so compact and simple, yet it produces such amazing results. So bravo to the Dymo design and advertising team. You got me to buy it. Still, if it didn't do what it did I'd be very disappointed for wasting all that money.

A last note, which has nothing to do with function, but it's just cool to watch, is the way that it prints the disc. Like I said before, I never used another disc printer, so I don't know if they all print like the DiscPainter, but there's a see-through window where you can watch the disc being printed. It's hard to describe it, but if you go to the Dymo website you can see a brief demo. The disc is on a tray that moves back and forth, and spinning at the same time. While it's spinning the disc is being printing from the inside out. It's like you can actually see your disc being "made".

Now going back to what my title says, even though I was a CD sticker guy for the longest time, I don't think I can go back. Don't get me wrong, the quality for both the stickers and printable discs is about the same if you use the matte discs, but the quality of the glossy ones surpass those of any stickers that I've used. Also it's so simple to print, just place disc on the tray, click the print button on your screen, and your done. The other way you had to load the labels into your printer, then print the labels out, and then stick it on the disc. Also getting the alignment of your prints on the stickers sometimes took trial and error, but with the DiscPainter software what you see on the screen is how you disc will print every time.

Bottom line... BEST PRODUCT I BOUGHT THIS YEAR!

Even on the highest settings, with the recommended glossy discs, the prints lack depth and vibrancy, and look very sketchy. There are extremely visible white rings that run around the disc due of the circular pattern it prints in. The ink also runs out extremely fast, and is expensive to replace.

Thankfully, the company I work for bought this thing, I would have returned it if it was my money.

First of all, the Discpainter uses only one ink cartridge (CMY). It doesn't even have a black cartridge! Blacks come out very muddy.

Second, each printed disc is severely marred by circular lines that ruin the image.

Third, the ink finish looks terrible. Each Verbatim matte DVD-R I printed looks like it has a paper label and not a classy, professional, even-textured print.

Do not buy.