Disc Cover 1.0.8 - Create great disc covers and CD/DVD inserts and booklets using fine templates or your own design skills

reviewed by Harry {doc} Babad

Developer: Belight Software Support: http://www.belightsoft.com/products/disccover/supportform.php Publisher’s Website:http://www.belightsoft.com/products/disccover/overview.php List Price: Physical Product $40 plus P & H ($35 as Download), with Academic Discount $24 USD Requirements: Mac OS X 10.3 or later. Of course, you need a printer, but you knew that. Runs natively on both Power PC and Universal Binary. Released: March 29, 2006 Download Size: 23.5 MB Audience: All user levels Strength — Disc Cover offers a clean interface for arranging text and graphics, this time within the confined space of CD/DVD disc labels, jewel case covers and booklets, along with odd items like mini CDs/DVDs and business card style CDs/DVDs. Yes you can also do VHS labels). Weakness — Nothing significant that I could find.
The software was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAM running under OS X 10.4.6.
Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Introduction

Over the last few years, I have been meeting my needs for CD/DVD labels, Jewel case covers and booklets with a variety of tools. I used downloaded (old) templates in AppleWorks 6.2.9 and MS Word X 2004, Software MacKiev’s PrintShop 2 for desk publishing http://www.mackiev.com/print_shop.html and dedicated software such as Magic Mouse Productions Discuss 3.07 http://www.magicmouse.com, and Smile on My Face’s Disclabel 3.3 http://www.smileonmymac.com/disclabel/index.html.

The lack of control when using templates limited my ability to be creative. In addition, some of the AppleWorks templates degraded under OS X 10.4 Tiger – they started printing artifacts I could not remove. In MS Word. I strangely had problems with resolution (fuzzy) of scanned images (200-300 dpi) on an HP ScanJet 8250 when printed on my HP Color LaserJet 3500, something that needed to be seen to be believed. [No don’t ask, I haven’t figured it out, I must be violating the Heisenberg uncertainty principal.) Therefore, I have mostly given up on using templates in AppleWorks and only use MS Word to create highly formatted booklets.

A lack of design flexibility, complexity and control in the otherwise effective PrintShop 2, despite its easy to learn interface, lead me to search on. I did make a number of very pretty labels with Printshop 2. If your needs include the PrintShop 2’s other features, it is a good package to start with.

Discuss 3.07 is a good product, easy to use and quite flexible, but the lack of masks to shape in image at time frustrated me. Perhaps this will be added to Discus release. (Discus 4L, a beta copy, is available as a final test before its release). As soon as version 4.0 is available, you’ll read about my tests in macCompanion.

Before the release of Disc Cover, for folks who did not want or could not use the more complex Adobe creative Suite’s software, was Disclabel 3.3. Although I respect its capabilities, I am frustrated by some of the aspects of its interface. Indeed although image masks, something I desire, were available, I could not controllably use them to crop my imported images.

Dealing With Design Complexity — Many of the CD labels I make combine elements of text in circle text mode near the CD edge, and standard added rectangular text fields in various locations containing additional contents information. The more obvious spiral text arrangements are artsy but awfully hard to read so I avoid them.

My CD covers also contain two or more images that parallel the spindle hole or overlap it in a collage. That sound busier then it looks folks, so no panic over my design abilities. Working with several images is relatively straight forward, but, for me, juggling several different style text elements is pure nightmare. So my search continues.

Okay doc, get to the point, still seeking a perfect labeling tool or at one better suited to my abilities, I asked to review BeLight Software’s Disk Cover. Indeed, having reviewed other BeLight products such as Mail Factory and their fine Business Card Composer 3.1.2, so I looked forward to receiving the product. This was all the more important because I have over four-dozen competed (recorded) projects that need CD/DVD labels and case inserts and covers. IO Know I’m just a type “A” personality and information junkie.

Working With Disc Cover

Installing the software was simple and Mac-like. Now you ready to work, immediately, its almost intuitive. There are two ways to create a design in Disc Cover — from scratch, or by using one of the readymade templates.

When you open Disc Cover, you are greeted with the assistant window, which is a collection of ready-to-use templates with attractive designs. Much to my delight, I could turn that feature off in the application’s preferences. I also was pleased that the interface for Disc Cover was very similar to that in Business card Composer, which I was already familiar.

The templates themselves, or tweaked by the clip art images, can be used as is, or as starting points for further modification. Note the product is seamlessly integrated with iLife and the other iApplications, but since I don’t use these, I’ll share other reviewer’s assessment about this feature later in the review.

I worked with the physical product so had the opportunity to install all the clipart. [Fun stuff, but since I’ve already have a large and growing clipart collection, the extra images were added just to feed my curiosity.]

I was able to rapidly replicate a handful of particularly challenging labels that I originally created in other programs from the artwork I’d saved. Pasting images was easy, as was cropping them to get the desired effect. Typing in text manually was a little harder. I type badly and can’t spell. In addition, I did need a bit of trial and error to learn the extensive set of text features. I could have cheated — used cut and paste the text… well just a time or two. You can easily experiment with styles and graphic tools. Disc Cover will fairly serve to bring you more and more design ideas. If you're not feeling creative, Disc Cover offers many of pre-designed templates you use as is or can customize.

I focused my efforts, avoiding the templates, to create my own designs from scratch. As noted in my addendum, Disc Cover comes with plenty of easy to use tools to make this an easy task.

For an elegant concise description of working with the product check out Mark Starlin’s description in MacReview which I’ll in part quote. http://www.macreview.com/productive/printpublishing/disccover/disccoverreview.html

“In brief, the main work area of Disc Cover is called the design canvas. It is a sizeable window with tool buttons on the top and a “source panel” on the right side. (see Massive Attack Image)

Five buttons at the top left-hand side of the source panel allow you to access content for your design. The Music button takes you to your iTunes library; the Photo button takes you to your iPhoto library; the Video button takes you to your Movies folder; the Data and Files button allows you to select any file on your Mac; and the Clipart button gives you access the included Disc Cover clipart.

“The top right hand side of the design canvas has buttons for basic drawing tools, text tools, and access to the font, color, and inspector window. The Inspector window is where you select design elements — CD, booklet, insert, etc. — and access control for modifying elements of your design.”

The design canvas was a distinct improvement to the quirky Edit (text and images) window in disclabel. Accessing many of the tools appear as floating windows when you access their buttons. They seldom got in my way since I have a 22” screen, but I could image that they might irritate some folks with smaller screen.

Where are the parts hidden? — I was a bit concerned when only the application installed in my applications folder, but the readme file gave me its location as well as that for the other items installed. Kudos to the Belight team: The Disc Cover programmer(s), the author(s) of technical and help instructions! The Disc Cover folder is stored in (My Macintosh HD > Library > Application. In addition, if for some unknown reason you want to remove the program from your hard disk, that information is also available in the readme file.

If you’ve finally put together a CD or DVD of essays, concert records or even macC reviews, Disc Cover gives the ability to make give the package a class look. Since I don’t use the Apple iApplications I’m quoting Bambi Hambi on the Disc Cover how deals with them.

“Oh it works, according to Bambi Hambi at for your GarageBand concoction, or CD or DVD of family photos, iPhoto slideshows. It’s actually easy. Just as iMovie and iDVD bring in photos, movies, and music from the iLife applications, Disc Cover let you select from iLife, too; playlists from iTunes, albums from iPhoto, even DVD projects.” Mac-360, Wednesday, March 8, 2006. http://www.mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/need_cd_dvd_or_jewel_box_labels_and_covers/

The software includes a wealth of controls for modifying images and text. It includes a large library of photographs and clipart. I was specifically delighted with Disc Cover’s ability to, transfer the design I created for a CD or DVD to create jewel case labels making a matched complete set.

Since I’m into masks and tweaking images, I found the image editing tools surprisingly easy to use. Remember, I don’t work with graphics very often except for the kinds of projects Disc Cover is best suited for.

Rather then clutter up the front end of this review, who me, I’ve appended and annotated the rich features provided by its developer.

Discomforts

Documentation - The only documentation included with Disc Cover is the Help file available from the Help menu. Although well written and reasonably illustrated the help menu covers the various aspects of the application adequately. It however is, as noted by Mark Starling, a hassle to use. You always have to go back to the index to access another page for information. I agree with Mark that a pdf version would be a major addition.

Rotating Circle Text — Having to go to the inspector window and diddle with the small, or should I say tiny, circle text dingus is a pain. My favorite means of rotating objects, be the he way text can be rotated as found in Yellow Mug Software’s Folder Brander http://www.yellowmug.com/folderbrander. It uses sliders to rotate and otherwise tweak text alignment. Alternately, just add a way to enlarge the rotation dingus so it is more easily used, especially for fine-tuning.

Rotating an Image — Having to go to the inspector window > geometry to rotate text is straightforward by the slider it too responsive so I’d like to be able to type in the angle of rotation. Like any well behaved Macintosh program, multiple undoes goes a long way to correcting my mistakes.

If Wishes were horses…

The one feature of Discus I seldom use but love to play with is the ability to pain and stamp on a label. Playing with paintbrushes, in an avant-guard way, and touching up my masterpieces with stamps, as the foundation for a label is pure unfettered joy! It reminds me of playing with my kids using KidPix then a Broderbund product and now greatly enhance and Mac-inized by Software MacKiev. http://www.mackiev.com/kid_pix.html. Just a hint, one more designs option for those of us who like toys but don’t play games.

Conclusions and Asides

Of the three programs that I‘ve mention in the review introduction, (Discus, Disc Cover, and Disclabel), this program has the most comfortable interface and using its rich features, with a little bit of practice, become almost intuitive.

The software is very intuitive to use for creating uniquely individual labels and covers. With Disc Cover, decorating your music and video jewel and DVD cases becomes an almost routine operation. Why the hedge (almost)? Well unless your willing to simply choose among the vast number of options provide with the package, you rally should think about your design. The mechanics of creating the labels and inserts with Disc Cove have become so much easier.

To paraphrase words found on review sites, the software is “slick and intuitive.” It easy and so that I’m like to us it to first, despite, for now, keeping the other software installed on my hard disk. After all, I’ve not given Discus 4 a chance to compete, perhaps next month. But then I’m of the school that believes ‘why chose only one software package’ when in a ideal world perfect software likely Is found in a mix of the best of 2 packages in any given genre. I rate this product 4.5 macCs.

Note: As a believer in a Gaussian distribution I hardly ever these days give any product a five score – that would mean that the product is not only best in its class today at least, but has little room for improvement. Enough philosophy doc_Babad

P.S.

If you need a bit of help working with images or fonts or want to find places where such can be found, for or not free, check out the Belight Software articles entitled Express yourself with Fonts at:

http://www.belightsoft.com/products/resources/fonts.php and

Images and Illustrations

http://www.belightsoft.com/products/resources/clipart.php

Addenda

MAJOR DISC COVER PROGRAM FEATURES (with my italicized comments.)

Designing your Labels and Inserts

Don’t Hunt for Graphics on the Internet until you check the 23,000+ high quality images (about 900 — in the download edition).

Use the 70+ professionally designed templates for Music, Photos and Data Backup collections. Use the wide variety of professionally made designs that are just fine for a quick start. (I prefer to design my own, but I haven’t given those provided a fair chance since there are so many of them.

Adjust you input data, as well as using commercial label selections, lets you specify the way the text and art work appears on the media labels or storage case inserts.

Use the Software’s Import and Export Features

iLife integration lets to preview and use data (text and images) from iTunes, iPhoto, and iDVD libraries. — I don’t know about the apple applications since I do not yet use them, but using the finder to access my collections and to grab inform from my Music and DVD databases worked fine.

Import data (Artist, Track Titles, etc.) from music CDs, Finder and tab-delimited text files. – I use Toast and could grab what I needed from that application.

Imported data auto-fits the design. — I wasn’t paying much attention, but since I didn’t have to reformat the imported data, it must work.

Insert images in many supported formats - JPEG, TIFF, PDF, GIF, EPS and more. — Despite owning and actively using Beholder Mesa Dynamic’s http://www.mesadynamics.com/beholder.htm and quickly accessing Google images from my menubar using Ambrosia Software’s iSeek 1.1 http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/iseek/ I found the direct web image images search useful.

Export results to JPEG, PDF and TIFF for further modification or as archives.

Working with Graphics is Straightforward

You are provided 100+ unique masks and other style options to use custom images as image masks. — I only tested out the simplest designs for this review, since although attractive (I say so) my needs were not Illustrator-level graphically sophisticated.

Smart guides help to align objects in respect to each other. — Its like the alignment features in Apple Works and FileMaker Pro, click click-click and images and text hang together just they way you envision them.

Background and Foreground layers help to create and edit advanced designs. — I guess so, things just worked.

Use a variety of smart shapes with controllable behavior. — Unless this means the masks, I did not test this feature since I couldn’t figure out its purpose. Perhaps in a week or three I’ll have time to play some more.

Crop, tint, tile, control transparency and rotate images. — This works like a charm.

Make use of adjustable shadows. — Well someday. I know they exist but the effects didn’t enhance my test projects.

Selecting objects with the opportunity to resize and rotate them as a single item. — Okay, again one test, which I reversed, showed that I could do this thing.

Search images by keywords in the embedded clipart collection or Internet. — An untested feature except for finding an image or two in the library provided by the publisher.

Apply the Advanced Text Editing Feature that Become Everyday Design Norms

Use circle text mode to design CDs. — Obviously

Flow text from column to column. - Great for inserting cuts on a music album label.

Use the option to line up text into columns. — Its all a part of making text on a label or inset took typographically more professional.

Control line, character spacing and paragraph indention. — Works effectively, its not MSWord or PageMaker, but shouldn’t be.

Create a text list with a variety of bullets. — Yes, but I like indented text better.

Control transparency of the test, rotate and fill text blocks with colors. — I didn’t take the time top test this since I was busy first duplicating previously designed labels and the working off a few of my backlog projects.

Printing Capabilities

An extensive collection of label paper formats from the most popular manufacturers: Avery, Neato, Fellows, Memorex and others. — I use Avery and Fellows labels because I can get them in bulk; all my paper stock labels were supported including full cover CDs.

It is easy to create custom layouts for unsupported paper stock. — So far all my need have been met from the provided stock label templates, but having the feature, just in case, is good to know.

Supports direct-on-CD printing for most printers, a list that is being updated in an ongoing manner. — Don’t own one of these, maybe after I get more consulting.

Printer calibration allows fine-tuning the printer for accurate results. — I had nor way of testing this. The labels and inserts I printed on my HP color LaserJet 3500 looked great.

Cut marks can be printed, helpful for printing on non-perforated paper. — That’s for me, when printing either jewel case inserts or booklets. Using 32 pound, 98 brightness papers save me lots of money.

Print to the limit of your hardware’s imaging abilities, on most ink jet or laser printers. — Hmm?

Next month, perhaps Discus 4 — doc.