Epson Photo Stylus 960: The CD Printer

[niggenz]

Welp, guys, Epson finally got smart. After allowing EZCD Print to remanufacture their low end printers to have CD printing capability for the past few years, Epson finally decided to release a pretty inovative and affordable product for the US market. While the Epson 950 has been available in the UK for quite some time, users in the States have had to settle for labeling home authored CDs with Sharpies and stickers. For the Terrel Owens in all of us, that is cool :). But now we can have the look of a professionally authored CD or DVD with the Epson 960.

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/ProductQuickSpec.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0037233760.1045885068@@@@&BV_EngineID=cadcghkdlkgjbfdmcfjgckidnk.0&oid=22403490&category=Ink+Jet+Printers

At $349 it is still a bit pricey. But keep in mind that even without the CD printing kit, this unit sells for the same price. So with this, we have a fantastic quality high-end printer with added CD printing functionality. Factor in the cost older EZCD printer based of the older Epson C-60 (newer low end model is based of the C-62 engine) sells for about $324 shipped (the cheapest EZCD printer you can find), then the 960 doesn't look that bad. I just ordered one from Epson since none of my local retailers had units with the CD printing kit packed in. I can't wait to get.

Welp. Just looking out for my fellow community. For those of you on the fence, this is the CD printer to get.

-niggenz

[mudda_t]

Run a search on the web for the Casio CW-50 cd-r title printer (thermal). You can find it at most places for $100 maybe cheaper (try ebay). The greatest thing about it, it's THERMAL!

My Owens days have been behind me for a long time now.

[timekills]

The thermals I have looked at seem to be only able to print some text - not full-on graphics, unless they are in the $2,000+ range.

Why is thermal better than inkjet, aside from the (theoretical) cost advantage of the blanks. From what i've seen the "standard" shiny-top DVD+-Rs which can support thermal printing are a bit cheaper than the ink-jet printable blanks. But is that the only advantage?

[niggenz]

Yeah, that Casio CD printer is cool. But the thing about is that it only prints on CDs. You can't use it for any other application. Keep in mind that Epson has sold the 960 for a almost a year without the CD printing kit for $349. So essentially, it is a high end consumber level printer. But now that Epson has made freely available the CD printing kit for the 960, it is even more valuable as an all purpose printing solution for us hobbyists.

Damn, I am starting to sound like a sales man or Epson employee :P. Oh well. Like I said, the purpose of this post was to keep the rest of you guys informed. Especially those of us that are on the fence about buying the EZCD Printer.

[niggenz]

Just an update. I received the Epson 960 before I had any of those Ritek inkjet printable DVD-R media (seems most retailers were out of stock up until recently). In that time, I played with the printer as a photo printer and I must say that quality wise, it is brilliant. It is a tad bit slow and a bit on the loud side, but the features that it has are awesome. Roll printing, CD/DVD printing, automated roll paper cutter. Very versatile.

Now that I finally have my hands on some of that Ritek inkjet printable DVD-R media, I must say that it is very cool to have graphics on your home brewed DVDs and CDs. I have had only one misprint onto a CD. It only happened because I did not line the CD/DVD tray against the edge before I started the print. Other than that, all my disc prints have been flawless. Once you load the CD/DVD tray into the printer, it positions itself for accurate printing. And the ink does not rub off to the touch, which was a bit of a concern for me. Water of course will make the ink run, but that is expected. No issue here. The only issue is that the surface of the Riteks are a bit like plain injet paper. So prints aren't as brilliant as they should be. But again, not the printer's fault. I will try some other media next time to see if any of those have better quality print surfaces.

All in all, considering that this printer was only $50 more than the cheapest EZ CD printer, I feel safe with the investment.

-niggenz