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- Verified Buyer
I have used Avery products for years. I find no fault with the labels themselves, they are as good as any that you can buy. The only reason for a 4-star rating is because of the faulty free software download.I have used my own CD Label and Jacket templates (templates that I created myself) in CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to create beautiful color graphics, photos, tracklist jewelcase jacket inserts. But I was interested in what Avery was offering as free label and jacket creation software, so I downloaded and installed the free software.The software offered nothing that compared to what I was already creating and printing using my color laser printer. But suddenly, after the install of the Avery software, other software became corrupt and would not run as it should. Automatic opening of CD discs into the drive would not happen regardless of the windows configuration to make it happen.I went to my control panel and uninstalled the Avery label creation software. However, this software does not uninstall, it leaves many reminants on your hard drive that continue to interfere with other operations that worked correctly prior to its install. Being a trained computer tech, and running a small computer sales/service business, I am quite familiar with faulty software and correct uninstall procedures. There was only one way to correct this awful Avery software from continuing to interfere with other things on the computer, and that was to remove all instances of it from the registry. This is a long and very tedious job, hunting down all registry instances and removing them. If you are not familiar with registry edits, beware here, because a wrong removal or entry can render your PC useless for other things, and maybe even prevent it from starting. However, after three hours of registry work, manually removing all registry keys and inputs (there were 300 - 400 of them, I did not count) and then restarting after running another registry cleaner, was I able to reclaim my PC. All applications that the Avery software interfered with were again running as they should.In over 20 years of installing, removing, configuring, selling, servicing PCs have I come across any software as contrary as this Avery label free software.I will continue to use Avery labels, they are great labels, they adhere well, they print beautifully, there are no better labels. But I will never fall for any free Avery software again.First 2 sheets a disaster. I'm sending them back.I used these on a HP Color Laserjet 2605dn. As a picture is worth 1,000 words, I'm attaching 4 scans.Scan 1 is the last Memorex label sheet I had AND the last thing printed before the Avery labels.. Too bad I already placed one label on a DVD, but you can see the other is clean. Scans 2 & 3 are the two Avery labels I printed. You can see the poor quality - almost like the toner or paper is tearing. After these two failed attempts, I printed on plain paper (Scan 4) to see if there is a problem with my printer. You can see how clean it is. I conclude the problem must be with the Avery labels.What else do I need to say?Update: 3-15-15. I bought some Memorex labels because they previously worked fine in my printer (see scan 1 below). Didn't matter- Same problem. Plain paper prints beautifully while labels look like junk. After researching this question, I realized the problem. BEFORE PRINTING, SET THE "PAPER TYPE" TO LABELS (if there is no label setting, use "heavy paper"). The problem went away so I'm raising my rating from 1-star to 3- stars thinking the problem was in the printer setting and not the Avery labels.I have been using the Avery 8691 Matte White CD Labels along with the Avery CD label applicator for years, and always got consistently perfect results. I recently switched to a laser printer, so when it was time to restock, I ordered a box of these, assuming they would be the same dimensions, only on paper designed for laser printers. That was a mistake. For whatever reason, the center hole in these labels is just ever so slightly larger than those on the inkjet version...just enough to make them not fit onto the applicator snugly, which means that once you press down to apply the label, it will almost always be just slightly off center. Not a big issue when you are printing labels for personal use, but when you are printing them for professional applications like I am, it creates an unacceptably sloppy look.These may have been originally marketed for Laser, but we've used them on an Inkjet. I believe the actual user prefers the "real" Avery, and in bulk they're quite reasonable. (I wouldn't hesitate to try a name brand like Staples if they carry an analog, but careful about off brands)It's a bit confusing- the manufacturer numbers vary based on number of labels in the package and other factors I can't ascertain (one is matte vs glossy). Here's a list of compatible products in terms of physical layout from Avery's site 15692, 18692, 28669, 5584, 5692, 5694, 5697, 5698, 5931, 6692, 8684, 8691, 8692, 8694, 8699, 8931, 8942, 8962met expectationsThese work as asvertised, and for much less money than when purchased in small quantities or from local stores.My only issue is that print from a tonor based printer is easily smeared when applied to the disc.once the priniting is dried more, the issue seems to subside.if you mass print, or just want to save a few bucks, these are the ticket!Good labels, but after a short time, they start to bubble and buckle. But, it's the next best thing to a confiscatorially expensive ink-jet disc printer.Just what our would team needed.This did not work well for DVD and Blu Ray Discs as the center hole is too large.Good
