Very pleasant to use

The P-Touch QL-500 is a label printer that connects to your Windows 2000 or XP PC (not sure if Vista is supported) and allows you to print custom labels with text and graphics. The labels will be printed on blanks sold by Brother but they are reasonably priced. As another reviewer points out, this label printer doesn't use ink, so that's a big saving in itself.

The QL-500 uses a manual cutter: there's a lever at the bottom front that you move to cut a printed label. It's very easy to use. Its more expensive sibling, the QL-550, has a cut button that you press to "automatically" have the label cut.

The QL-500 turned out to be bigger and heavier than I had expected, but not unduly so. Setting it up took about 10 minutes from opening the packaging to having the first label printed. Half of that time was spent on reading the typical originaly-written-in-Japanese user's manual and another 30% of the time on installing the included software (I chose standard installation even though I don't think I'll ever use the P-Touch Addressbook).

Installing a label cartridge couldn't be simpler: the spool has guides that slide easily and effortless into the guide slots on the QL-500. And there's only one way you can insert the cartridge, so you won't do it wrong. You then feed the label tape into the printing mechanism, pulling the first tape just past the cutter slot. The QL-500 is smart enough to sense where the cutting position on the label tape should be, so for the most part it's a truly worry-free experience.

I use the included P-Touch program to design, lay out and write up my labels. (The program has half-baked integration with Microsoft Office programs.) So far I've printed only address labels. The included starter label roll is similar to the DK-1201 roll: each address label is 1 1/7" x 3 1/2", good for 4 lines of address text in 12-point Arial. The starter roll has 100 labels, whereas the $12 DK-1201 has 400. I bought the $18 DK-1208 roll (also with 400 labels) which is wider (1 1/2" x 3 1/2"), since I often print addresses with 5 lines or more of text. But I think for most purposes, the DK-1201 suffices and saves you 50% in cost.

You should read the manual to ensure a hassle-free setup. The most important thing with the setup process is: do NOT connect the QL-500 to your PC via the included USB cable until after you've installed the software suite, which includes the crucial driver that's needed. The installation program will prompt you to connect the printer to the PC. I installed the software on Win2K and WinXP machines, and never had to restart any of the PCs (even though the manual says you might need to reboot).

The QL-500 is easy to set up and very easy -- and fun -- to use. Making customized labels has never been so easy. I wish the QL-500 could operate on batteries and were slightly slimmer and lighter, and I wish the labeling program were a little more user-friendly -- but for less than fifty bucks, this is the best PC peripheral I've bought in a long time. Plus, Brother makes and sells all kinds of label blanks at reasonable prices, so your creativity is your only limit.

I whole-heartedly recommend this product to anyone who prints labels.