No difference except if you are printing and then burning right away before the ink dries. It w\ill cause the ink to sling outward on the disc` ruining the print.But I have printed an bunch then burned a few hours later w no problems.
2. Balance. This is mostly true of paper labels (which you probably don't want to do), but even ink has some weight. Even the slightest vibration for off-balance discs can degrade a burn.
3. Don't waste ink if burn fails. If you print first, you've wasted both your time and ink if burn fails (although I've never had a burn fail in over 1,000 disks, believe it or not, but most people have -- well actually one did fail because my drive had failed).
4. Gives you time to change your mind. I usually test my DVDs after burning (see related post a few minutes ago), and when doing so, sometimes get "inspired" to make a change to the artwork.
I am hard-pressed to think of any reason to do print first. I'd have a tough time taking the other side in this discussion.
I agree with John. Yet, I find myself printing first fairly often, despite knowing better.
The reason is that it is easier for me to multi-task the editing process and the printing process. (After all, you can't burn until the production is complete, whereas you can print at any time - as long as your happy with the artwork.)
Here's my take in a little more detail
sort of relating to but not disaggreeing with John Meyer.
I usaully burn my first copy to a RW disc veiw it and see if there are any things I might have missed that I can now see on my big screen TV, and a small 13" cheapo via an actual DVD player.
once all looks good I do a print on a blank disc to see how it looks, then burn to that disc even if the prints not just right (I'll save that for one of my back up copies.
Then its more a matter of burn time vs print time, I might be burning a few unprints while printing a few unburned. Mainly just to keep the flow going.
Its just my workflow working with one burner and on R200 printer.
The tips someone gave a week or so ago about changig the settings on the printer so that it prints w better saturation and color slows down the peint abit but looks much better.
So its just a matter of keeping the flow going for me. the key is to let the ink dry, if you print first, esp if you print all the way to the hub.