You have no doubt heard of blu ray and know that it was was designed to supersede the standard DVD
. Blu ray media is advancing by leaps and bounds and the name itself comes from the blue-violet laser that is used to read the disc. Blu ray employs a shorter wavelength laser than what is used on the DVD format, and it allows for almost six times more storage capacity than a DVD. Blank blu ray discs are available in single, 25GB and dual layer 50GB formats. If you have paid hundreds of dollars for a big LCD, plasma or widescreen HDTV, then you should get all you can out of that purchase. Unfortunately, the standard DVD player cannot do these sets justice, but blu ray media does. The main advantage of blu ray media is the playback quality. Blu ray plays video in HD at a much higher resolution than a standard DVD. With blu ray you get enhanced special features and more intense movie experiences.
Another great development is lightscribe media. This is an optical disc recording technology that uses recordable CD and DVD media to produce labels that are etched with a laser to produce text and graphics. This makes stick-on labels and printable discs obsolete. The advantage to lightscribe is that it allows you to create direct labels to your discs using an optical disc writer. It does require that you use special discs designed for this purpose as well as a disc writer. Once you have burned your data to the read-side of the disc, you need to just flip it over and insert it. The laser will etch into the label side so that it produces an image. You must take some special storage precautions so that the lightscribe discs do not fade. This includes using polypropylene disc sleeves and you must store the discs in a cool and dark place.
A thermal CD printer is another great innovation that is ideal for the home or the office. A thermal CD printer is an affordable CD printer that uses heat to transfer the print to the surface of the disc. This is done by putting a thin ribbon of film between the disc and the print head. This type of CD printer is faster than other CD printing technologies and the print is long lasting and it does cost much to operate.