It's amazing how often public relations professionals approach me with products that are the next great new idea -- even though there are dozens of similar products on the market.

So it's refreshing when a product comes along that's actually unique and satisfies a need in the market.

Dymo's DiscPainter is one of those products. It's an inkjet printer specifically designed to print on CDs and DVDs.

Typically, users hand write on their disks to designate the contents. More sophisticated users print on labels that adhere to the face of the disk. And if the look of your CD is important (like for me), you may have purchased a general purpose printer that prints directly on "printable" CDs. The DiscPainter gives you a small, specialty purpose printer that quickly outputs your printable CD with fancy faces.

The key to a product like this is to have intuitive software to make sure your designs translate properly onto the face of the disk; and to install easily.

The software, called "Discus for Dymo," is so easy to use that almost anybody should be able to start using it without referring to documentation. You launch the software, tell it what you want the design to look like, then print it.

Creating your design couldn't be easier. Either use a template or create your own custom design with symbols provided by Dymo and photos and text of your own. It automatically puts it on the right shape for your CD -- and lets you determine how much of the CD should be part of the design. So you can choose a small or large hub and "feather" the inner or outer edges to use less ink. Feathering is a graphic equivalent of fading in and out along the edge.

Discus for Dymo includes a number of graphics that can be used for backgrounds, including maps, music staffs, flowers, hearts and other popular themes. For my digital music, I used a background that could have been part of a "Peanuts" comic strip featuring Schroeder composing complicated music. A small amount of text in Old English font in a complementary color made for a great looking disk -- and if I must say so myself, a professional presentation.

One of its unique benefits is its ability to help you build a collage out of your own photos and have them line up around the face of the CD in a striking layout. You can choose the number of photos, arrange them around the circle, choose their shapes and scale them to highlight key elements.

I'm not yet convinced that the startup is a breeze. Despite my initial excitement about the DiscPainter, I had trouble getting it installed and working properly. On my day-to-day laptop, it took me three attempts to install the product; and the drivers never worked properly. So I took it home to try it again (in both places on Windows Vista systems). This time, it installed promptly and was working within 10 minutes. Both the graphics and text were distorted when my first completed CD came out of the printer; but subsequent disks came out fine with no noticeable distortion and a good, clean look.

With a list price of $249 (less at various online retailers), the DiscPainter is less expensive than general printers that include CD printing capabilities -- and its compact footprint allows it to easily sit next to your monitor. As with any inkjet, the expense might be in the price of ink. But if you're going to print on your CD face anyway, the DiscPainter should be just as cost-effective as alternatives.