has anyone tried one of these new burners that etch text right on the cd?

Nope, I've heard of 'em tho. Supposedly the text part eats up extra space.....so I'd find it pretty useless.

The Yamaha one, right?

This thing?

http://www.yamaha.com/yec/multimedia/customer/features/feat_prodsCRWF1_1.html

That's pimpy. Must be a big hit at LAN parties.

yep yep
the internal version
i think it might be sorta cool

It would be cool for burning presentation CDs and such for companies, or document control as well.

Ok, it seems pretty cool in a gee-wiz sort of way. But I don't think it will eliminate labels. It only burns in the unused portion of the writeable side of the disk. Sure it looks cool, but it isn't of much practical use imho. I'll still buy a Plextor.

They were being discussed on another forum that I visit, and a guy that owns one says that although it's a pretty nifty feature, you do pay through the nose for it.

As mentioned, it sticks the etching in the unused part of the CD and effectively fills it up.

You also need to have CDs with a dark blue dye in them in order to see the etch properly. If you use the cheap CDs, it can be very difficult to see the etch unless the light hits it at just the right angle.