Lite-On announces 18x Lightscribe DVD burner

We're still waiting for Lite-On's 20x DVD burner, but if you're looking for speed and laser-etched disc labeling to boot, the company's got just the fix for ya. Lite-On's just-announced LH-18A1H Lightscribe drive will give you a still-respectable 18x burning speed for DVD+R and DVD-R discs, although it'll still take decidedly longer to label the disc than it does to actually burn it. Other disc burning speeds are about what you'd expect, with 48x for CD-R, 32x for CD-RW, and between 6x and 12x for the remaining writable DVD formats. This one's being offered to OEMs right now, with a Lite-On branded model set to go on sale in Taiwan for about $64. According to Lite-On, Lightscribe-enabled drives account for just 10% of the company's optical disc drive business, something that HP (purveyor of all things Lightscribe) looks to be doing its best to increase, recently announcing that it's lowering its royalty charge for manufactures by between 40 and 50%, depending on volume. Guess it takes some drastic measures when you're taking on the powerhouse of the optical disc labeling industry: the Sharpie.

[Via TG Daily]