Customer Reviews

Memorex Label Maker Starter Kit

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I bought the Memorex CD/DVD Label Maker Starter Kit about one and a half year ago. Since then I have created several hundred beautiful, personal and professional looking DVD's and CD's. The kit comes with software, 20 disc labels, and some jewel case labels, and the Memorex's 3-in-1 label applicator. Since I have been printing hundreds of disc labels I had to buy more of these. However, they are available at any Office Max or Office Depot.

The Memorex exPressit software application is easy to use. It is just a two step wizard style dialog box, and on the last page you design, print and calibrate. Using the self explanatory controls on the last page I easily succeeded in creating some pretty nifty labels using my best photographs. Some people have apparently had problems with the calibration, but I was lucky and I got perfect labels on my first try.

When I print it comes off correctly and the slightly thicker label paper has never jammed my printer (a C6180 all-in-one). You can print one or two labels at a time. The labels come off easily and if you use the label applicator you are almost guaranteed to line up the label correctly on the DVD/CD. However, 90% of the time I do not use the label applicator, I just do it by hand, which is quicker. The label ends up in the middle of DVD/CD anyway. The greatest risk for problems is when you take the label off the paper. The label may curl up and get stuck on your fingers. Since I can only speak for myself, and not for those who had problems calibrating, I highly recommend this product for label printing.

The software for this product is not user friendly. I spent some time "calibrating" my printer and the result was perfect...on regular printer paper. However, when you printed on their label paper, the result was way off from the template. I, finally, gave up trying to coordinate my printer with their paper and threw the whole thing out.

I really don't understand what's up with all the negative reviews. This product did exactly what I wanted it to do and for a very cheap price (I paid $5.53 total)

If you plan to make game or movie backups these work just fine.
Here's the process I would go through

1. install software
2. load software. it brings up a 3 step wizard that guides you through the process where you pick what type of label you're making (has a preview picture on the side so you know exactly what you're picking), then you choose a background (I used my own image files for this and they came out great), then click finish
3. the program will now open up with the background youve chosen on top of a template of the type of label youre making. You can easily move it around, enlarge it etc to get it just how you want. I was only making dvd disk labels and with those I recommend making your background a little bigger than the actual dvd disk so that if it doesnt print perfectly on center it wont have any white areas.
4. feed the label paper into printer
5. print
6. peel label
7. put label on disk or case cover or spine or whatever it is you were making a label for

I didnt even need to calibrate my printer and it came out just fine.

If anyone's wondering I'm using a laser printer and am using windows 7

I purchased this kit because I wanted to put a label on a DVD I made. There was nothing in the accompanying online blurb which indicated that it would work only with Windows. So I, a confirmed Mac man, found that the mounting disk would open, but I could not make it work properly. The stock on which the disc blanks and spines were imprinted seemed very heavy, but the adhesive-backed portion worked OK using the round plastic mounting device in the kit. PhotoShop made me a form that matched the printed position of the labels and I filled it in with my own design. None of the designs provided on the disk of the kit met my needs, and in any event I am not sure that I could have transferred them to PhotoShop.

After hours of screwing around there is now way to print these labels on center. Finally I had to cut 1/2 inch off the top of the label page to get it somewhat close. You have 2 choices buy this or buy a bullet and rent a gun...you'll need it.

I totally agree with the other fella...I followed all the software instructions. Got through that okay. Calibrated it with a regular piece of printer paper and got it, what I thought, was about as close as it was going to get (though, when I held the template paper even with my test printer paper, it was off too) BUT, when I put in the template paper, it was a complete disaster. NOT EVEN CLOSE FOLKS! and I know why...my brand new HP Printer does a burnout on the slick backing of the template paper. Meaning my printer is already printing before the template ever gets there. The other guy is lucky...he only spent $12...I spent $14. Lady, however you got your 5 star label maker to work, more power to ya.
Duane Harmon

The included software is terrible and very difficult to use. I have a great printer and it still was able to mess every sheet up. I could not find any Word-compatible templates for these sheets, so we had to use the included software. Waste of $12.

I ordered this as a starting off point for labeling home movies and picture cds. The kit came with a disc that I installed into the computer that had the program for making and printing the labels. No problem there. I went through the process of calibrating the printer and had the same problem others have said: the label looks perfect on print preview and on regular paper, but when printed on the labels it was way off. I tried calibrating the printer again thinking it was something I was or wasn't doing. I could never get the labels to print properly. I did some research online and found that this was a common problem with the memorex program and people suggested another program from NEATO. Actually the program is at mediaface.com and you get to use the site for free when you purchase NEATO brand labels. This program works amazing. The labels print out exactly like they are on the page and I never had to calibrate my printer (they do suggest it, but it wasn't necessary). They don't have as many backgrounds as the Memorex program but what's the point if they never print out right anyway. Also, you do need interent access to use mediaface.com obviously, but that is it's only downfall if you can call that a downfall. I have been using this program for a long time now and the website still works the way it did my first time. I recommend this website for anyone who needs to make labels. Don't stress yourself out trying to make this product fit onto the label. The only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 is that the label aplicator that comes with this set works great and it does have a small amount of a variety of labels for such a good price ($4 when I bought it).

If you like rubbing cheese graters or sand paper across your behind, then this is the product for you! If you're a normal human being, then I would suggest not bothering with it.

The Good: It was cheap.

The Bad: Everything else.

Ok. That's not constructive, nor enlightening. Let's break it down.

Photoshop/Illustrator template are abysmal. They don't work AT ALL. Tried the A4 and the Letter. Neither did what they were supposed to do. Their software is terrible. You'll have to recalibrate your printer after each and every printing, thus wasting a piece of paper each time. The application of the covers is fairly terrible as well. I got one on dead center. One.

I ended up going through the entire starter pack of labels and got one good print out of all of them. The rest were offcenter each time. From one print to the next I switched the offset from 4 to 24 then back to 1, all with inconsistent results.

If this thing is easy, then I'm a monkey typing this from a tin can. Give a 4 year old some crayons and they'll produce a better product.

I was more than excited to get started stomping out CD/DVD labels, as I had used this software on my old XP machine (and, while awkward to use, it worked great). However, while it seemed to install fine in Vista, nothing would print. The calibration page actually made a piece of paper feed through, but nothing printed on it. Any other attempts would show a brief flash of something sent to the print spooler, but nothing else. I tried XP compatibility mode, running as administrator... nothing. Printing from other applications works just fine, so it's not my printer or my driver. I ended up using bundled software that came with my CD burner. But hey, the labels themselves are great, and the little plastic stompy-thing is wonderful to perfectly apply the labels every time. If you're purchasing it simply for the physical product, it's more than worth your money.