At this point in time, what is the most affordable cd printer that works well? I am interested in having one just for home use. What are your recommendations? The reason why I strayed away from lightscribe is that that there are no double layer lightscribe discs.

I already have a printer for printing out documents.

Any cheap printer with disc capability is fine, discs don't require or support high-res printing. "Affordable" usually means: how much does it cost to run? They are all around the same prices, it's the ink that gets you. Also, some have such crappy disc printing software that you are forced to buy software to get a decent result.

HP: Expensive to run, horrible software and driver.
Epson: Mediocre software that is usable but not outstanding, expensive to operate.
Canon: In the USA they must be modded to print discs, and you need to buy a disc tray off ebay: cost about $25 and 10 min time. Software and driver are the best available, cost to operate is slightly less than Epson.

The Canon IP4500 is just discontinued and cheaper than ever. It will replace any printer you currently use for quality and speed. It's the cheapest Canon model that can print discs.

Bottom line, if you're only printing a couple discs a month, either the Canon or Epson will be relatively cheap to own. If you print a lot of discs, go Canon.

Ok, but how much do they cost on average? I don't feel like spending $200 for another printer.

CDan

If you buy there ink yes.
I got one of those continuous ink setups and the cost has gone down 10 fold.
Here's one place that has them.

http://www.exava.com/shop?refdisa=ys...ink+refill&qet
You can get an epson for about $160.00 or less now if you look around.

On one website, I saw a printer that cost only $99. Here is the link:

http://www.supermediastore.com/super...c-printer.html

What do you think of it?

Have not used a Thermal printer to date.
Look at the price of those refills,same as the Epson ink Cartriges. Will dig deep in your pockets to keep it going if you print alot.

Thats why I went with the continuous ink setups, I think it prints just as good as using the name brand inks that they try and force you to use.
I buy the pigment type ink and can not tell the difference from the Epson carts. that I use to buy.

You can get a Epson R280 for less than that. Stay away from thermal printers.

Canon IP4500

I wonder do they make the continuous ink setups for that Canon you have listed?


Those ink refills are $12.00 themselfs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817102284


I do a lot of color printing(Not just disc ) these refills would have me in the poor house quick.

Can't go wrong with Canon for quality. Have used an IP5000 in the past and using an MX850 now. The MX850 is a multifunction so its not going to be the cheapest disc printer around.
In Australia the print tray is included. Canon in the US had some license issues regarding disc printing as I think Epson or HP had exclusive rights. That's why the print tray is not in the box and some modding is required. Correct me if i'm wrong

I have a canon ip5000 and a friend has an ip4500. Both have outstanding print quality and we both use oem carts. Unfortunately the 4500 carts are chipped but there is a re-setter on the market.
I can buy carts for £0:68 - £1:68 but for the 4500 oem carts cost £1:55 - £3:45. Do some research and see what will suit you best.
I have owned epson and canon and will for now only use canon.
By the way Cdan both carts are the same apart from the chip for the 4500!

Even at say $1.00 a cart for Approx 30- 40 Pictures per cart. Not a good fit for me.

My cont. Ink refill at $35.00 and I can get approx 500 - 650 pages per refill.
And to the naked eye the quality is just as good as any other print that I have seen so far.

BTW they do have a refill kit for the Canon IP5000

http://www.exava.com/shop?q=continuo...tr_brand=canon

The IP5000 uses un-chipped tanks, so anything is possible. In general, CIS systems would be a bad idea with Canon tanks because they tend to start failing after a few refills. They need to be purged and cleaned out after 5-8 refills on average. Spongless tanks are better in this regard, but the outflow valve will still get clogged in time, and start to leak or just not flow well enough. They can, however, be refilled in the printer.