you can get digi's with a little pocket for the booklet..

But what I really wish would become standard are those nifty heavy cardboard gatefold-lp style sleeves that the japanese use. the p-vine label is the earliest I remember doing it this way, but it seems a buncha the majors have been using this format in limited edition reissues.

What is it about this word that makes me wince every time I read it? It seems like every time it's used, it's used as a synonym for "confusing to me." I understand how, maybe, an artist could be pretentious, but how can an inanimate, mass-producted object be pretentious? What, you prefer humbler, more utilitarian packaging? How many times have you been faced with Digipak busting on duty?

Famous Athlete makes a good point - I'm sure in most cases it's not even the band's decision ... so blame the label for being "pretentious"

LIKE YOUR MUSIC IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH FOR ME TO SPECIALLY FILE IT OUTSIDE OF MY NICE JEWLCASE HOLDERS????????

The way I see it, you're claiming that if music is packaged in something besides the traditional normal plastic jewel case, then its being there is a function of its importance? Well then, that doesn't mean pretention at all, it merely means exactly that -- importance. Given, of course, that we're playing by your glib definition.

No, I'm afraid the packaging itself can not be pretentious, furthermore I'm afraid you're just wrong. It is the music itself that is pretentious (read: Blonde Redhead, Tortoise, Sonic Youth) and not the fucking packaging.

Oh, and packaging which distinguishes itself from traditional packaging is a gimmick engaged in to garner curiosity about the product contained within. Its an effective marketing tool since most of us are curious about things which APPEAR distinctive. However such gimmicks are indeed pretentious as bands which use 'creative' packaging to stand out, claim a position of distinction from their peers (clad in traditional and therefore 'boring' packaging) which rarely speaks to the distinction (or merit) of the music contained within the ostentatious wrapping. So, the musicians imply that their music is somehow different or special by presenting it in packaging that is somehow different or unique. This is usually a false claim as their music is likely little different than the next cd on the shelf.

That said, Digipaks are not pretentious.

Records pressed on 220 gram virgin vinyl in editions of 15 and packaged in handmade rare wood boxes embossed with ivory inlays, and supplemented with inserts such as extinct butterflies, barbed wire and the artist's baby teeth are pretentious.

But all of us with sense prefer the Miles Davis metal-spine box sets! With the outer box all covered in fabric!

Hardcover A5 digibooks and LP-size digipacks are the greatest, though. More space for the lyrics/artwork, and you can file them with your books/LPs.

- Digipacks fray, and the picture gets torn.

- Some bastard digipacks / cardboard things are too big to fit in a standard jewel case rack

- those that aren't, don't fit "nicely", they rattle about, fall out, collect dust, get the cornern bent

- when I take a stack of CDs from the UK to Brazil I bring them w/out jewel cases, (it's lighter) and jus treplace them here. Can't do that with digipacks and non-standard boxes

- there used to be a rumour that the acid in the ink / cardboard of cardboard sleeves damaged CDs. Anyone know if this is true or not; or was true but is now redundant

What I'd like to see is someone invent a 2 / 3 CD wallet which fitted into a standard jewel case format, so you could put fit it into a slot in a CD rack.

There is one! (well, it's not a wallet, but it's a regular sized jewel that fits 3 CDs in)

a new beaumont digipack in two weeks:)

I have to say I prefer digipacks purely for aesthetic reasons, nothing more rational. I hate plastic, actually -- how's that for rational? Also, all the color and texture in jewel-case packaging becomes less vivid when viewed through clear plastic. (Insert clever condom metaphor here.) And wedging a thick booklet back into those four semi-circular notches on the front of jewel case is an exercise in futility.

I've never had a digipack get badly bruised, and I've never had one develop a broken spindle, which would obviously suck. But in my experience the spindle's usually going to be fine if it's good when you first get it home; the trouble seems to come from how it's shipped in the first place. And maybe it's just an illusion but digipacks seem to hold the CD more snug-ly, so they don't rattle around during shipping and weaken the spindle teeth.

Worst CD packaging: when the disc just slides into a stiff cardboard sleeve, I'm convinced I'm scratching it everytime I get it out/put it away.

looking to press a run of ~100 cds, and i have some questions. i'm interested in doing a glass master (don't wanna do cd-rs), and wondering if anyone has useful references for fair-priced, small orders. i don't know a lot about the process.

also, it seems like every cd production company advertises cds featuring cheap-looking, full-disc graphics. i don't want this. i'm looking to get discs w/no ink/graphics, aside from basic, printed info (on top). basically the look of like old warner brothers' (et al) releases, where the 'cut' of music information is visible on the top of the disc.. any references?

finally, does anybody know where drag city has their liner notes printed? some are very elegant, glossy. their colors are brilliant. i was told that colors, such as those of a .bpm or .jpg image will lose their brilliance when printed.. i want to use jewel cases. thank you for any responses...

* .bmp image, such as an ms paint format

sorry way off topic. didn't look for a more specific thread.. any links would be appreciated.

i'm looking to get discs w/no ink/graphics, aside from basic, printed info (on top). basically the look of like old warner brothers' (et al) releases, where the 'cut' of music information is visible on the top of the disc.. any references?

This is one color printing. Any place that manufactures discs should be able to do this (and should be glad to do this).

i was told that colors, such as those of a .bpm or .jpg image will lose their brilliance when printed

As long as you send them the image uncompressed, it shouldn't be a problem to replicate colors.

the jewel case appears to be dead. Of the 19 new CDs I own from this year, all but two are digipaks.

My 30 2011 CDs =

3 jewel cases

8 digipaks with plastic trays

19 sleeves without trays

i'm loving the hardcover cardboard covers that getondown.com are releasing.
i guess they would be regarded as vinyl replicas.
but the best bit is that the label puts them inside these plastic cases that keep the packaging totally pristine.
way way better than digipacks.
oh, and i'm sure someone somewhere told me that the reason labels like digipacks : the shops cant return them if damaged in any way ..

We've got about 13 jewel cases and about 22 digipaks for new releases this year.

miss u jewel cases

i do like the cds that come in digi-packs that dont have the crap glue + plastic tray

i.e. just folded over cardboard wallet with the cd sliding inside the carboard

no idea if they are officially called digi-packs as well, but they seem to have become very popular.

the official name for that is ECO WALLET

In that case, eco wallet > digipak > jewel case. Fuck a jewel case. They look like shit when they get scratched and take up way more space than they need to. Its really not hard to keep your digipaks looking decent if you handle them with a modicum of care.

sorry, I meant that most of my CDs from this year are ECO WALLETS. And I just got 2 more.

Anything that's just a cardboard sleeve seems to instantly scratch the cd for some reason.

I was reminded over the weekend of the other two reasons I loathe jewel cases - the security stickers that refuse to peel off completely and opening up the case and having the disc immediately fall to the floor because all of the "teeth" holding the disc in the case have broken off.

that's an "America" problem, not a jewel case problem

Wait, we're the only ones that get those awful teeth in the center?

no, the security stickers

Oh, got it.

i hate those US security stickers.
the gunk they leave behind is just nasty and not easy to clean off.

...though I've probably not had a problem with spiders (the "teeth") with a CD bought new, from an IRL shop, in ten years or more. (a 90s pressing bought second-hand from ebay, or a 3" box set bought mail-order, yeah.)

agreed that the US security stickers are horrible btw

I prefer "mini-LP sleeves"

not because they look like "Small vinyl albums", it's because they take up less space.

^ feel like Mark has a script that posts this on a random thread every three days or so tbh

I do, I keep it in my loft.

jewel cases are evil and should fuck off

You anti jewel case people are mental. If the teeth break in a digipak, or if the sleeve gets damaged from a sticker, or a bend, or a tear, the whole packaging is fucked. With a jewel case you can just replace the plastic and it looks as good as new.

as good as new still looks pretty shitty tho

and they're bulky, yeah

Last two CD purchases have both had card sleeves rather than jewel cases.

The Magnetic North's "Orkney" arrived with creases, Underworld's "Barking" ripped the first time I took the CD out. I'd actually pondered buying the jewel case version of the latter but bought the "deluxe" version with a disc of DVDs. Should have gone with plan a.

Dropped Silent Shout today onto the pavement when bringing it back in from the car. Jewel case shattered, artwork fine, disc fine. Have a spare jewelcase. Easy.

^ doesn't have the 3-disc version

nick im sorry to hear the disc is fine so next time throw it a bit harder and you will be rid of a shitty album.

jewel cases forever

MP3s don't break when you drop them into your playlist. Trollololololol

the barking dvd has some cool videos

Digipack's inevitably tear a little no matter how careful you are with them. :-(

inevitably

I'm careful with digipaks and I've never torn hundreds of them

When I worked at Tower, the guy from the liquidating company just told us to take whatever we wanted from the pile in the stock room that he had deemed to hold no value. In that there was a box lot of plastic CD sleeves, perfect for digipacks.

Which I of course have been using for the last seven years. I only have about fifty sleeves left now, but darned if they don't keep those digipacks looking real fancy. Love 'em.

Although I do really like those strong Euro jewel cases that started coming out in the last few years. These ones:
http://i.imgur.com/qcKsGHe.jpg

Do they have a name, these types of jewel cases?

stevem started a thread about them, once upon a time, iirc.

I had someone saying they didn’t want to buy a CD from me recently because it was a digipak, a format it was only ever released in.

Dropped Silent Shout today onto the pavement when bringing it back in from the car. Jewel case shattered, artwork fine, disc fine. Have a spare jewelcase. Easy.

If you had a digipak version it too wouldn’t have shattered.

Those are called Super Jewel cases.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_packaging

And you can't get the booklet out of them.

xpost

The disc tray in a digipak might have shattered, and then you'd be buggered. And the cardboard would most likely have creased and torn.

nicks absolutely right that vinyl is better as it has none of those problems!

I've never dropped vinyl on the pavement, but I assume it'd be more likely to be damaged than a CD?

(tuomas I was joking)

And its sleeve is torn and frayed
It's seen much better days
Just as long as the guitar plays
Let it steal your heart away
Unless you drop it on the pavement
In which case your filing system is buggered

Anyway, one of the most gloriously wrong CD packaging decisions ever was made by the German techno label Basic Channel/Chain Reaction in the mid 1990s. They started using CD trays that were modeled after plastic trays, but they were made out of metal. Even the ring inside the tray that holds the CD:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kCEVnK2uiuE/SAKYBxCOgUI/AAAAAAAAALU/zgFNYLI21Qs/s320/front.jpg

http://basicchannel.com/images/records_297/crd-04b.jpg

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk317/headonist/cover%20art/chain_reaction_3.jpg

Now, apparently the people at the label weren't very familiar with physics, as they didn't take into account that thermal expansion is way more severe with metal than plastic. Meaning that if the CD was exposed to temperature changes, the little metal ring would expand a lot more than the disc it held. So loads of these CDs were gradually destroyed by their own packaging.

They eventually figured this out, and started using regular cardboard/plastic digipaks for their later releases. I think they even promised they would replaze discs damaged by the tray, but I'm not sure if that ever happened?

Fabric do the daft metal box thing too, but the CD won't stay on the nobbly bit and just rattles around inside the box instead

Yeah, I have a couple of Fabric CDs, I've noticed that. I guess they took their lesson from the Chain Reaction fuckup, and make the ring smaller than the disc hole so it won't damage it... But that also makes the tray hella irritating to use. I wonder if it'd be very difficult to insert a plastic disc holder inside the metal tray? Or would that ruin the stark industrial design?

Thing about industrial design is that there should be a focus on function and those Fabric boxes just don't work at all

I like that i can buy packs of twenty jewel cases from the local office supplies store and make it look like so many of my albums are brand new.

For years, I have obsessively removed CDs from digipacks and placed them in standard jewel cases - for filing, and also for preservation, purposes. Space has become an issue and I have reluctantly quit doing this and now I have a lot more room. A friend posed a question to me, though, and I couldn't answer it: which is ultimately better for the longevity of the CD: a jewel case or an UNOPENED, STILL SEALED digipack? I mean, the latter is never touched by human hands, but is also bumping around in a cardboard sleeve - like an LP stored without the paper sleeve. Any thoughts?

I can't imagine that leaving a CD in its sealed digipak is any worse than taking it out and putting it in a jewel case.

Goddamnit, the labels that make digipack cds and then don't include a slot for the booklet are SAVAGES

So you just have a loose booklet floating around forever