I've had my Lacie drive for about 4-5 years, and yet, a quick google search sees that it is still described as a 'new technology'. I get the impression that Lightscribe hasn't quite taken off!

Lightscribe is a technology that uses lasers, like those used to burn your CDs and DVDs, to print images onto your discs. It requires both a Lightscribe drive and Lightscribe CDs or DVDS which have a special coating which produces the greyscale image on the disc when it reacts with the laser.

While it is nice to be able to print directly onto the disc, the quality of the image is fairly poor. With all the brands of discs I have tried, the image just isn't dark enough. Text is therefore difficult to read and, well, images just don't look as cool as I thought they would. It is also very slow to burn the image, much more like burning a DVD than printing an image. Considering that the rival technology is discs with printable labels already attached which allow you to make use of the speed and image quality of a relatively wide range of modern printers, these two problems probably mean that Lightscribe is well on the way out.

As a CD/DVD burner in itself, it has worked fine, but is nothing special. I spent about £80 on this drive when I bought it. I think it would have to be significantly cheaper for me to recommend it today. The only people for whom I would recommend this product are those who need to burn and label discs on the go, and therefore needs something more portable than a desktop printer to burn their discs.