Casio CW-50 CD Title Printer

Worst thing: after printing the top of the CD, it pops out and you have to spin it around and carefully position it so it will print the bottom half evenly. I recommend only printing on the top, that way you can print roughly 50 discs with one ribbon and you don't have to spin it around every time.


Professional look at an amateur price   February 28, 2004
Louis E Metcalf (Woodbridge, VA United States)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

This is a great little disc printer--both CD and DVD. Installation and software is simple to install and operate. In addressing a few of the drawbacks cited by others, let me say that they are minor and easily overcome.

This printers prints on ALL CD's and DVD's that I have tried. You may have to be clever on how you rotate the disc to insure that the print area is clear of manufacturer's writings, but I've been successful with several different, including Sony, Memorex, Imation and Fuji. Print quality is excellent.

The printer will only print on standard full-sized CD's and DVD's and not on the CD-Single or CD-Business card discs.

As for the fact that you may only get 20-40 labelings per label tape, that makes the cost about 15 cents each. If I can get a great looking print job on my labels for distribution at an average costs of 75 cents total (including amortizing the cost of the printer over 300 discs, the cost of the discs and the cost of the print ribbons) then I feel I've hit the jackpot!

By the way, many have pointed out that you can only print in one color per disc. This is not true. You can print each line in a different color if you want to and have the patience.

Do not be dissuaded. At this price, you can't go wrong.


Better Than CD Labels   May 16, 2003
Ob Ricatos (Midwest, USA)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

I've owned this cd printer for about a year now and I love it. It works much better than labels that can come off from heat and ruin cd players. Although you can print single color graphics, multicolored graphics aren't recommended. For that you'll need to buy a different thermal cd printer, and they run about [$$$$] a pop! So, for under [$$], you can't beat it. You may have read the previous post regarding the cost of the ribbons, but that was a little high. You can get a 3pack of black ribbons for [less], that's not bad for 3 labels....If you're looking for neat and affordable cd printing for mostly text, this is it. Comes with software and 1 free black ribbon. Ribbons also come in red, blue and silver. Try this little printer out, you'll love it! (PS stock up on black ribbons if you can, the supply seems to run out quickly)


Acceptable but I wouldn't buy it again   March 7, 2006
N. Caine (Los Angeles, CA)
18 out of 19 found this review helpful

I bought this unit when it had a huge rebate here at Amazon for a few days, and I certainly wouldn't spend anything close to the asking price for it.

Positives:

1. It's a relatively small device, so it can fit behind my LCD monitor, instead of taking up a lot of space on my desk or hutch.

2. It prints titles fairly well. You'll need as blank a surface as possible. I have a bunch of Memorex media which have very faintly raised lines -- they look flat to me!-- but the printing is messed up anywhere near them. Also, the printing is fairly faint, unless you print in BOLD, which is the default. I haven't tried graphics.

3. It looks better than my handwriting with a sharpie.

Negatives:

1. This isn't a 21st century technology: it would look more at home next to an Atari 800, and it uses ribbons instead of ink jet. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about ink jet cleaning cycles and such, but now that I have it, the tiny ribbons run out so quickly it's ridiculous and retro.

2. "It's the ribbons, stupid!" I can't believe others have stated that this is economical. I guess it all depends on your expectations. The ribbons are so small that my unit ran out of ribbon after 25 titles: my titles, mind you, are just a few words, printed on one line. I was hoping to do the trick of rewinding the ribbon, but only the left spindle is accessible, so turning that backward only gives you a bubble of loose ribbon. I surgically opened the case, but 15 minutes later, after rewinding it, it wouldn't run smoothly and snapped. 25 titles? 7 bucks a ribbon? That means that the title is costing more than the media I'm buying.

3. When I plug it into the USB port, it usually takes me four or five tries before the unit is properly recognized. Perhaps all the error messages when doing this have to do with the fact that the drivers are not XP certified.

4. I haven't tried printing on an "inkjet printable" medium, but the manual warns that the printer won't work on those, or rather, the ink will smear.

If I had to do it all over again, I'd wait for a sale on an inkjet printer that printed on cdr/dvdr's instead.

LATER: For what it's worth, I filled out a $20 rebate. When I got the check 2 months later, it was dates for deposit less than two weeks away! I was travelling at the time, but when I got home and got the check, I deposited it two days after its "deposit by" date, and the check was returned due to "account closed." Maybe it was my bad for trying (I got charged a lot of penalty fees), but it still seemed like a racket. I'll never buy anything by Casio again.