Lightscribe cd's are Necessary? Reaaaaally?

Question

Do you reeeeaaaally need lightscribe cd's for lightscribe to work? Why? really, what will happen if you use a regular one?

IDK, it's just that I mess up cd's enough anyways so it would be suuuch a waste of money, so I just want to know about the cheap alternative.

Answer 1

Lightscribe works because it burns your image onto the surface of a CD that has a special coating.... e.g. those special lightscribe discs.

Answer 2

The lightscribe disks only work because there is a photosensitive layer on the disk itself which the laser in the burner etches a design onto.  So yes, you do need lightscribe disks for a lightscribe label to work.  Lightscribe is a nice little novelty which will make burned disks look good, but sharpie works just as well, just messier.  Don't use stick on labels though, they make the disks too thick and can mess up a lot of CD readers.