apparatus 2 the microprocessor chip 20 may also control the cutting mechanism 66 to allow lengths of image receiving tape 54 to be cut off after an image has been printed thereon alternatively the cutting mechanism may be manually operable the tape printing apparatus 2 of the present invention allows labels to be composed and displayed on the display 18 using the various keys in particular the rom 22 stores information relating to alphanumeric characters and the like which are associated with respective ones of the keys 6 as well as information relating to the functions associated with the function keys 8a 8i when a key 6 is depressed data concerning the associated character or the like is retrieved from the rom 22 and then stored in the ram 26 the data stored in the ram 26 may be in the form of a code which identifies the character the microprocessor 24 in accordance with the data stored in the ram 26 generates pixel data which is transmitted in one form column by column to the print head 42 and to the display 18 in another form it should be appreciated that the displayed image and the printed image may differ only in their resolution in some embodiments.