EMedia Professional, Brad Thompson

To create imbalanced discs, I borrowed a NEATO disc-labeling Kit and a quartet of identical CD-ROMs for experimentation from NEATO of East Haven, Connecticut. Originally invented for labeling short production runs of CD-Recordable discs produced in-house, the NEATO kit features a can't-miss centering fixture that simplifies label application. Retailing for $79.95, the kit includes the centering fixture, a label design software package supplied on a NEATO-labeled CD-ROM, and a generous packet of adhesive-backed paper labels. Next, I applied an intact NEATO label to Disc Two and logged readback times virtually identical to those of the unlabeled disc. Based on a admittedly small sample of two models of drives and four discs, adding an intact, 360-degree aftermarket label to a CD-ROM apparently possess no imbalance problem for drives of 12X performance and under.

We wanted to make sure that our labels were safe for your disc and CD drive. Third party testing by two separate companies has been conducted, and the results are in: NEATO labels will not damage your discs, cause data read errors, or come off in your CD drive. Here's how we tested.

Labels were applied to CD-R discs and then accelerated heat aged. This is performed by placing the labeled discs in a laboratory oven that keeps a constant temperature of 140oF. One week at this temperature simulates one year at room temperature. Periodically, the labeled discs are removed and allowed to recover to room temperature. At that time, they are inspected for any visual damage to the disc or label. The discs are then loaded into a PC and random files are opened to search for any possible read errors. To date, 12.5 years have been simulated using this method and no damage or read errors have been detected. The testing continues.

The adhesive used in NEATO labels is a special non-ooze emulsion, which was designed for clean sheetability and processing through toner fusion copiers and printers. Since it is an emulsion (water-based), the adhesive is environmentally friendly, unlike solvent adhesives which may give off residual solvents during heat fusion of toner, not to mention those driven off during material production.