Eric Butterfield

Epson Stylus Photo 900

The Photo 900 is the first ink jet printer we've tested that can print onto CD-Rs and DVD-Rs--and it sells for only $199. In addition to the input tray that feeds a printable disc into the printer, the Photo 900 also comes with an attachment for feeding 4-inch-wide or 8-inch-wide rolls of photo paper. It wowed us with high-resolution photos on glossy paper, which had very sharp detail, smooth textures, and lively color; glossy gray-scale photos also looked impressively realistic. Plus, you don't have to switch ink cartridges to print text, unlike the Lexmark P707. Epson has combined standard colors and photo colors in one cartridge, and has given black its own cartridge. The black cartridge is always installed, so you can print text without worrying that you'll wipe out the tiny black ink supply that most photo cartridges have. Epson provides an excellent setup poster, a detailed printed manual, and on-screen animations that demonstrate how to perform common tasks such as loading paper rolls.
The Photo 900 runs near the slower end of the scale on both text and graphics: PC World Test Center clocked it printing text at a pokey 2.3 ppm, and photos at 0.3 ppm. In general, it's not a good match for everyday print jobs: On plain paper, its text looked solid black but somewhat rough around the edges; it turned narrow parallel lines into wide, messy stripes; and color and gray-scale images showed slight but distracting bands of unwanted color. (Coated ink jet paper improves its text and photos a great deal, but doesn't do much for narrow parallel lines.) Also, as with most specialty media, setting up the printer to handle CDs and paper rolls can get inconvenient. Before printing onto a disc, you have to lower a lever that makes the back of the printer yawn open, load a CD into a plastic tray, and slide the tray in from the back until it lines up with the rollers inside. To print on rolls, you first have to detach the paper support and clip the roll-holders onto the back while suspending the roll of paper between them.
Epson's CD design software is functional but not elaborate; you'll probably find that most graphic design packages offer more interesting capabilities. Ink-jet-compatible CD-Rs and DVD-Rs are fairly new but seem widely available. For example, Memorex sells a 30-pack of 700MB 48X ink jet CD-R discs for about $14; Imation, Maxell, and TDK sell similar products. However, a single Verbatim printable DVD-R will cost you $20, and printable CD-RW and DVD-RW discs weren't available when we checked. Keep in mind that the capability to resist color bleeding if the CD gets wet will not match a commercially stamped and labeled disc.
If you burn your own CDs and long to decorate them--or just want to print photos by the roll--the Photo 900 is the right printer for you.