has anyone tried the Epson Stylus Photo 960 printer? With it you can print directly onto CDs or DVDs. I was just wondering how good they look afterward....

While not an answer to your question...
Converting an ink jet to print on CDs

I think I will stick to the printer.......i think for $100 more (probably less if found on pricewatch) that it would be worth it for multi-color DVD/CD printing

I've seen that printer. It looks cool but I have to wonder whether the ink will run.

My previous company had a ink-jet printer (I don't remember which) that prints directly to CDs, but it required special media (with white paper-like absorbent coating). Worked quite well.

Well, that isn't printing directly on the CD, is it? You can already do that with any printer and a CD labeling kit...

No. You just have to use printable media - the media has an ink-retentive layer on it. It looks more like a drive than a printer - you put the disk in it, and it prints on the media itself.

So do you always start at white with this media? I prefer the silver background you can get with thermal on blank-faced media.

I've wanted to get a small professional one with a friend of mine for a while now. He records a lot of local groups and makes CDs for them, so we've been thinking about it.

You can get either white or silver. Both media versions are typically unbranded with a matte finish. The finish supposedly has little pores for the ink to settle and dry. I was just checking out the printers over here, and they have the various media types as well.

does anyone have any samples of CDs or DVDs after they have been printed?