LightScribe is an

optical disc recording technology Optical disc authoring requires a number of different optical disc recorder technologies working in tandem, from the optical disc media to the firmware to the control electronics of the optical disc drive. Types of recordable optical disc The ...

that was created by the

Hewlett-Packard Company The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

. It uses specially coated

recordable CD CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

media to produce

laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...

-etched labels with text or graphics, as opposed to stick-on labels and printable discs. Although HP is no longer developing the technology, it is still maintained and supported by a number of independent enthusiasts. The LightScribe method uses the laser in a way similar to when plain data are written to the disc; a

greyscale In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a grayscale image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample representing only an ''amount'' of light; that is, it carries only intensity information. Graysca ...

image of the label is etched (physically burned) onto the upper side of the disc using a laser. In the beginning, the discs were available only in a

sepia Sepia may refer to: Biology * ''Sepia'' (genus), a genus of cuttlefish Color * Sepia (color), a reddish-brown color * Sepia tone, a photography technique Music * ''Sepia'', a 2001 album by Coco Mbassi * ''Sepia'' (album) by Yu Takahashi * " ...

color but later became available in many

monochromatic A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or color scheme, palette is composed of one color (or lightness, values of one color). Images using only Tint, shade and tone, shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or Black and wh ...

colors. The purpose of LightScribe is to allow users to create direct-to-disc labels (as opposed to stick-on labels), using their optical disc writer. Special discs and a compatible disc writer are required. Before or after burning data to the read-side of the disc, the user turns the disc over and inserts it with the label side down. The drive's laser then burns the label side in such a way that an image is produced. (see

Thermal printing Thermal printing (or direct thermal printing) is a digital printing process which produces a printed image by passing paper with a thermochromic coating, commonly known as thermal paper, over a print head consisting of tiny electrically heated ...

; LightScribe uses a laser instead of a thermal printing head)

History

LightScribe was conceived by

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

engineer Daryl Anderson, and the coating's chemistry was developed by Dr. Makarand Gore, and brought to market through the joint design efforts of HP's imaging and optical storage divisions, where it was first introduced in January 2004 at the 2004

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

. It was the first direct to disc labeling technology that allowed users to laser etch images to the label side of a disc.

DiscT@2 DiscT@2 (read as "disc tattoo") is a method of writing text and graphics to the data side of a CD-R or DVD disc first introduced by Yamaha in 2002. While often compared with the later LabelFlash and LightScribe technologies, which also offered u ...

technology had been on the market since 2002, but

allows users to burn only to the unused portion of the data side of the disc. In 2005, LabelFlash became the main competitor for LightScribe. Various brands manufacture the required media. Dual Layer DVD+Rs are the highest-capacity disc to support the technology. No LightScribe Blu-ray discs were ever developed or manufactured, though Blu-ray drives with LightScribe technology (supporting the older formats) were on the market. Companies such as HP,

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

LaCie LaCie (; English: "The Company") is an American-French computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, Flash Drives, and computer monitors. The company markets several lines of hard drives with a ...

and

LiteOn Lite-On (also known as LiteOn and LiteON) is a Taiwanese company that primarily manufactures consumer electronics, including LEDs, semiconductors, computer chassis, monitors, motherboards, optical disc drives, and other electronic components. ...

had announced that they were phasing out LightScribe drives by June 2013. LG was one of the last companies to manufacture LightScribe drives but ultimately followed suit. , LightScribe.com HP's official LightScribe website has been removed. This has been replaced with the following message: , the website returns a 404 error. , the website redirected to

's homepage. , HP Desktop PCs Customer Support still has an article of instructions and FAQ about LightScribe.

Mode of operation

The surface of a LightScribe disc is coated with a reactive

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

that changes

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

when it absorbs 780 nm infrared laser light. The etched label will show no noticeable fading under exposure to indoor lighting for at least two years. Optical media should always be stored in a protective sleeve or case that keeps the data content in the dark and safe from scratches. If stored this way, the label should last the life of the disc in real-world applications. LightScribe labels burn in concentric circles, moving outward from the center of the disc. Images with the largest diameters will take longest to burn. LightScribe is

, initially a

grey Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

etch on a

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

-looking surface. From late 2006, LightScribe discs are also available in various surface colors, under the v1.2 specification. The etching is still in shades of grey. It is not possible to replace a LightScribe label with a new design (as in erase the surface of the disc), but it is possible to add more content to a label that has already been burned. The center of every LightScribe disc has a unique code that, together with a sensor in the drive, allows the drive to know the precise rotational position of the disc. This, in combination with the drive hardware, allows it to know the precise position from the center outwards, and the disc can be labeled while spinning at high speed using these references. It also serves a secondary purpose: the same disc can be labeled with the same image multiple times. Each successive labeling will darken the blacks and increase image contrast (see drawbacks). Successive burns are perfectly aligned.

Drawbacks

Special storage precautions are necessary to prevent LightScribe discs from fading. HP's LightScribe website warns users to "keep discs away from extreme heat, humidity and direct sunlight", "store them in a cool, dark place", "use polypropylene disc sleeves rather than PVC sleeves", and also notes that "residual chemicals on your fingers could cause discoloration of the label image". Such chemicals include common hand lotions and hair care products. Users not observing these precautions have reported LightScribe discs to become visibly faded within two months in the worst case. This drawback makes the technology unsuitable for applications involving continuous handling, and for such popular uses as car music compilation discs, which typically have unavoidable high light and temperature exposure. Since many disc players present internal temperatures significantly higher than room temperature, LightScribe discs should also not be left in disc players for long periods of time. LightScribe discs may form a visible white powder coating. This is due to crystallization of some of the label-side coating. It is not harmful and can easily be removed with a water-dampened cloth. Wiping the disc with a damp cloth does not harm the inscribed label. At this point, LightScribe support has not explained which conditions lead to this reaction, nor the precautions that can be taken to avoid it. Multiple LightScribes of the same image increases contrast, but the image quality decreases with successive burns. Noticeable contrast variations are seen in solid shades.

Other uses

A LightScribe optical drive was used by Maher El-Kady, a graduate of UCLA in 2012 to successfully turn a specially prepared

graphite oxide Graphite oxide (GO), formerly called graphitic oxide or graphitic acid, is a compound of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen in variable ratios, obtained by treating graphite with strong oxidizers and acids for resolving of extra metals. The maximally o ...

layer coated onto a DVD into

graphene Graphene () is an allotrope of carbon consisting of a single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure.

. El-Kady and

Richard Kaner Richard B. Kaner is an American synthetic inorganic chemist. He is a distinguished professor and the Dr. Myung Ki Hong Endowed Chair in Materials Innovation at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he holds a joint appointment in the D ...

, his lab professor, used an unmodified LightScribe drive. The disc was prepared by coating the disc with an aqueous solution of graphite oxide and allowing it to dry. Areas of the coating illuminated by the LightScribe laser were turned into graphene. Various shapes can be drawn, which allowed the scientist duo essentially to laser-print an

ultracapacitor A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than other capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable b ...

on graphene using consumer-grade technology. Another use is to prepare a PCB layout on an unburned LightScribe CD-R as there is enough contrast to form a weak shadow image on a photosensitive PCB with UV light. The ratio with a single pass is not that good but multiple burns are.

References

External links