I like label printers. I used to think my Brother PT label maker was pretty cool, but I have a new toy: the Brother QL-500. This thing used to be $160, which was too much for my cheap ass, but recently the price came down to $60 after rebates. At that price point I had to try it—and it's worth every cent.

Brother P-Touch QL-500 Manual-Cut PC Label Printing System publisher: Brother Printer price: $80.99 (new)

Label editing application (window reduced in size for picture)

I am getting a lot of use out of the CD/DVD labels. They are much easier to print and apply than the full-size kind. They don't look as good as a full-size color label from my inkjet, but printing those is a pain in the ass. On the other hand, everything is easy with the QL-500, even changing tapes, which you might expect to be a drag. It's not.

You need to use Brother label stock of course, but if you shop around the prices aren't too bad. It can be as little as a few cents per label, or as much as a quarter per label depending on what kind of label it is and where you get it. Unfortunately the DVD/CD labels are one of the more expensive types... Therefore, discs that I use temporarily still get handwritten Sharpie labels.

Lastly: The high-end QL-550 is only different in that it has an automatic paper cutter. On the QL-500, you need to yank a lever to separate a label. Unless you print a lot of labels this is probably not a big deal.

This is a great product now available at a great price, especially now that Mac OS X support is available--well, it doesn't support 10.4 yet... hopefully they'll fix that.