Stuck on you: paper labeling systems for CD-R

Emedia Professional, April, 1998 by Jeff Partyka

The musician who has just burned a CD of his home recordings...the marketing manager who has transferred some sales figures onto CD-R for distribution to her colleagues...the audiophile who has archived his rare and treasured LPs with a CD-R drive..the school librarian who has created a card catalog on CD for student use...all are searching for an affordable final touch to make their new discs attractive and easily identifiable. Paper CD labels--designed with a user's own computer and printer--have the potential to be an excellent solution.

Of course, they're by no means the only available solution. But, despite the felt-tip marker's many charms, it doesn't exactly result in a professional look for recorded CDs in business settings, and it's not going to impress a talent scout cracking open the jewel case of an up-and-coming band's demo CD. And CD printers and silkscreening products, in addition to having limited compatibility with many types of CD-R media, can be somewhat pricey and therefore not a smart option for users with less-than-prodigious CD-R production output.

"Crack-and-peel" labeling packages, on the other hand, are generally inexpensive and easy to use. They allow users to create attractive designs with any number of text and art fields using their own computers and printers, and the labels stick right on top of virtually any type of CD-R disc. Typical packages include design software, several pages of blank labels, an applicator, and even templates for creating jewel case inserts. But within this basic parameter, products differ substantially. Some may offer only minimal design options for labels and jewel case tray cards, an uninspiring pile of blank white labels, and a mediocre label-affixing device. Other bundles may include a fascinating array of art, colors, and templates, and the tools to transform a piece of CD-R media into a truly professional-looking compact disc. None of the three labeling packages examined here--CD Stomper Pro, the NEATO CD Labeling Kit, and the Stick-It Right! CD Labeling System--offers the best of all worlds, but all exhibit different strengths. NEATO wins hands-down for the best-stuffed bundle, while CD Stomper Pro takes the prize for applicator accuracy and reliability. And Stick-It Right!, the newest of the batch, wins the price war by a significant margin.

But, beyond such point-to-point comparisons, what should a consumer be looking for in a CD labeling product? For many business uses, it may be enough simply to have the capacity to put clip art and text on a white label, but in many personal or higher-end corporate environments, users may want higher-quality art with a whole spectrum of label colors to choose from. The importance of these issues is for each potential user to decide, but in any situation it's certainly necessary for the label applicator to work properly. As testing revealed, attempts to remove an improperly applied label can transform a perfectly serviceable CD-R disc into garbage.

DOIN' THE STOMP: CD STOMPER PRO

In terms of pure label application, CD Stomper Pro from Stomp, Inc. tested best, proving easy to use and virtually idiot-proof. The printed label is placed sticky side up on the stomper, which holds it securely in place long before the disc even comes near it--virtually guaranteeing a well-centered application. The disc itself fits on a raised cylindrical platform that is pushed down--or "stomped," as it were--to bring the disc in contact with the label.

The CD Stomper Pro package includes templates for Photoshop and Quark as well as its own design software for Macintosh and PC systems, and its interface is user-friendly and attractive. Users can import art of their own choosing, but the disc contains its own supply of colorful art and photography--more than 1,000 pieces. The plentiful background choices are organized into categories: business, colors, modem, patterns, pictures, and "fun." The backgrounds and clip art are impressive and easy to manipulate, but creating, altering, and moving text fields proved intermittently problematic, even causing the program to freeze up on occasion.

The $69.99 CD Stomper Pro package includes 100 blank white CD labels and 20 die-cut jewel-case and tray-card insert sheets, plus an order form for refills (100-piece label packs for $24.99, 50-piece jewel-case insert packs for $19.99) that can also be used to register the product.

LIKE, NEATO, MAN!: NEATO CD LABELER KIT

The NEATO CD Labeler Kit is a very impressive overall package. The $79.95 kit includes, for starters, ink-jet- or laser-printer-ready labels in myriad colors: white, silver, metallic gold, violet, dusty rose, reddish tan, and even clear "see-through" labels. The software provides numerous options for label and jewel-case insert designs, including templates for creating booklets. Like CD Stomper Pro, NEATO offers templates for use with QuarkXPress and other graphics programs in addition to its own software, CD Face 1.0, which features 66 digital background images and templates.