Say, who invented the CD jewel case?

http://www.geocities.com/telephonepolesmusic

(YES! Another Plug for Me)

But it is a mostly rotten design. The only thing worse I can think of offhand is the double jewel cases where the tray folds out to hold a second CD on the back, only the tray's hinges are even more breakable than those little spine-like springs holding the CD in the tray, so it crashes to the floor sending tiny bits of plastic all over the place and the discs rolling skidding and bouncing in different directions and scratching up the playing surfaces.

As for jewel cases in general, I think they're great. They're durable, thick enough to read the spine, and replaceable. What's to hate? I hate flimsy cardboard sleeves that look worse after two years of use than LPs from the 60s.

Instead of trying to take the sticker off with the case closed, detach the front part of the case from the tray so it's only being held on by the sticker. This instantly makes the sticker a million times easier to get off. Maybe everyone in the world already knows this trick, but it was a revelation when it was introduced to me.

Also, I totally agree about those giant double cd cases they used to use all the time. What giant waste of space and plastic. They could have fit both cds in a case 1/3 the size. They don't use those for double cds anymore, do they? Are the still using them for e.g. The White Album or The Wall?

I've done this. I've put the leaflets and CDs into small, clear, plastic bags - and my CDs now take up about a 10th of space they used to - and are much easier to transport too.

-- Chewshabadoo

Much harder to find, though, at least for me. Once a CD is spineless I pretty much forget I have it.

These new "Super Jewel Box" cases with the rounded corners... is there a way to get the booklet out without mangling it? You've got tabs on the left and right and ridges on the top and bottom, it seems impossible.

Also, I know they're not really new anymore, but I somehow avoided albums with them until 2009.

push on the left edge of the booklet between the tabs, then grab the book out. the only one i have is The Sound of Girls Aloud which i got in 2009 too.

Hey, that worked! I didn't even notice the little gap there. Thanks!

I've got loads of them; CAN remasters, Patrick Wolf, The Do, Radio 4, plenty more besides. Seemed like loads of albums I liked in 2006/07/08 came in them. They suck. Regular jewel cases aren't, like, amazing, but they're a damn site better than these.

Nooo, I like them!

They have the ability to store *another* CD in the box! and how many times have I needed the ability to be able to do that? with that CDr knocking around? Loads. That's how many.

Only drawback: No-one sells 'replacement' packs.

Cough, cough

hey, look. the telephone poles site is down.

They've gone all wireless.

Hey I saw a jewel case the other day that was soft bendy plastic. Seemed far less breakable.

Also I will sell my copy of Hello Nasty for only $13.

far too esoteric a query, or set of queries, to make another thread for but...

does anyone have any insight as to why the standard for jewel cases switched from black to transparent around 1995? i'm always surprised it didn't happen a bit earlier, perhaps when the standard for the actual CD itself switched from simple text (often in black) on a silver background to full colour artistic designs/images (i'm guessing the reason *that* took so long is the technology became far cheaper, and silver lost its the-future-is-here appeal, but it went sort of hand in hand with the texts on spines becoming less massive and blocky, which can only be a pure design, not budgetary, decision?)

also the gradual decision, in britain at least, to switch from fatboxes to slimboxes for double CDs seemed to have been completed around 1995 (apart from very random CDs throughout the rest of the decade - like 'the greatest hits of 1998'). i read somewhere a large contributing factor was to accommodate the racks in supermarkets now that they were becoming major players in CD sales. and boom... the first Now slimbox album (Now 29) was the biggest success in ages. but virgin/emi had been using slimline for non-Now 2CD compilations for over a year by that point? why the delay?

i think u2 could have been trendsetters in both respects? achtung baby is the earliest major CD i'm aware of to have a full colour photograph design and no mention of the artist/album name - aside from the 1990 peter gabriel limited box set (which specifically advertises these novel CDs as 'picture discs'), and zooropa might be the earliest major CD i'm aware of with a clear CD tray (and ergo design beneath the CD tray).

sorry if this has all gotten wayyyyyyy too hoffman. but these are thoughts i've had for many years cus this is how my mind works.

Rykodisc was doing clear green-tinted cases at least as early as '90 for their Bowie reissues.

I imagine slimline two-disc cases were cheaper to make and easier to ship in bulk. The thick cases seemed wasteful unless there were two booklets or such things (the original White Album CD, Mellon Collie etc.)

oh that's interesting - never seen those bowie ones but that confounds the situation further, of why it still took another five years before it made more sense for the whole CD case to be the same plastic.

in the meantime there are things like rem's automatic and monster where to deviate from a black cd tray means just to have it another (non-clear) colour.

Bowie's Sound + Vision box set from '89 had the green-tinted cases.

I think Ryko did it for all their discs, no(?)

The problem with the green Ryko trays was it was a more brittle plastic than the standard trays, so the center nubs holding the disc broke off way too often.

Cassettes transitioned largely from white or black to clear shells in the mid to late '80s (at least in the U.S.). This had an aesthetic benefit, arguably, in that you could glimpse the J-card behind, but it supposedly also was cheaper to produce and ultimately less durable.

I imagine something similar happened with CD manufacturing: at first the cases and packaging tended to be rather clunky, but relatively sturdy (supporting a lifetime of listening enjoyment!). Later, you get the clear trays and glimpses of the art behind, and more broken hubs in the long run.

The slimline 2-disc cases were so cool when they first appeared… they were so slick and, well, compact. It felt like quite the advancement from the fat, clunky ones.

I still have a handful of those "first generation" jewel cases which you can always tell by the smooth edges (none of the ridges that became standard later on). The first one I ever had came with a used copy of the Beatles' Pleased to Meet Me and I was surprised how thick and hefty it seemed to be compared to other jewel cases. Same dimensions but you could tell the plastic was thicker and the whole thing was a bit heavier.

The original dark-grey trays made of soft and sturdy acrylic were pretty great in a utilitarian sense. Aesthetically lacking perhaps but they're much more durable and less prone to cracking than the dark-grey then black polystyrene trays that eventually replaced them.

I used to love those slimline 2-disc jewel cases, they saved so much space, but I now prefer the old "fat, clunky" design. It allowed for things like a thicker booklet and it now feels more protective of the discs. Also, I didn't like how some reissues stretched or cropped original album covers to fit the dimensions of the fat, clunky cases, but as I buy more old CD's, I've noticed that more often than not they found a way to preserve the original LP cover as-is, especially if it was a Japanese reissue.

Clear trays I think were just an aesthetic thing... another panel for artwork, and it could be a little spicy (eg. Dirty) given that it was covered by a CD most of the time. It came about a little after CDs became dominant (I want to say 1990-92) over tapes and I guess just more musicians were like, let's put something there!

The disc themselves are screen printed. It's pretty expensive to do 4+ color screenprinting, I guess in the early days it seemed too extravagant. There are some boots / interview type discs from the 80s that also say "Picture Disc CD" like that's something special, and well, I guess it was back then.

I think Ryko (the first CD-only label IIRC, they did do some vinyl eventually) had a trademark on the green cases. They're nice. The trays on the slimline doubles are wayyy fragile. Even regular replacement jewel cases that you get now are much flimsier than the old ones and yes those original smooth side cases are pretty sought after!

Those slightly thicker jewel cases from the 80s (which are always an ever so slightly lighter grey, I feel) are definitely more durable, although also more hard to lift if for whatever reason you need to access the back cover.

I think the introduction of the clear tray was for the best but I'm still puzzled why it took so long for it to happen. Almost instantly though, exceptions become aesthetic ones in themselves (thinking of the shiny white one for Blur's 13, or the shiny black one for Radiohead's Kid A; latter of which was intently concealing actual rear back cover artwork and even initially a hidden booklet). Come 1997 and albums like Dig Your Own Hole seem odd for being packaged like it's still 1994.

Another pre-Achtung "picture disc" I've remembered, one explicitly advertised as such, is the limited edition of the Best of OMD, which is the same image as the sleeve. Hardly pushing the printers too hard I suppose as it's grey.

Slimline 2CD cases I easily prefer to fatboxes - and I prefer ones that open from the left than to the right. But by 2005 I remember how much harder the CDs seemed to be glued in. I snapped disc two of a Now album that Christmas trying to remove it from the case, and had to return a Drum n Bass Arena Goldie mix back to Asda to get the customer services person to try and release the discs for me (I was a kid and I suppose felt this was a better way of having it replaced if the discs snapped, which wouldn't happen if family members kept trying to remove them). This era did seem to pass quite quickly.

how about those mobile fidelity lift-up ones. kind of bizarre when you first encounter those.

As a teen in the states, the skinny import CD singles seemed so slick and cool.

I had a weird one on Discogs recently where someone messaged me asking if a couple of CDs I had for sale were still in their original jewel cases because apparently 90s jewel cases were "sturdier" than modern ones. I said I couldn't possibly guarantee that because in 30 years I may well have replaced them at some point and don't remember if I did or not. they bought them anyway

I hate those lift-lock cases. Too many people don't know how to use those and end up cracking the hub of the (EXPENSIVE, usually gold) CD's they were holding.

There's a specific digipak that I absolutely hate that still gets used a lot, sometimes by Criterion for their discs. It's got this death-grip thing going with the hub where it's really hard to take the disc out and often times it'll crack the disc. I remember a lot of the 2003 Bob Dylan SACD remasters had them, and I think some of the later Rolling Stones SACD's from 2002 had them.

*the earlier Rolling Stones

Man, I screwed that up. Let me try again - "some of the later pressings of the 2002 Rolling Stones SACD's (not the first one that came with the certificate)"

So many of the decisions in this line of packaging were driven by loss prevention.

Remember the record stores that kept the actual discs behind the counter? that sucked, lol

It definitely forced you to interact with a human, which, ymmv lol

The worries were not unjustified. I used to work at Tower in lower Manhattan, the security guys were regularly nabbing people with loads of discs stashed under their clothing.

xp More than once i got home only to find that i had been given a record that didn't match the sleeve.

the worst most disgusting cd cases are those clear round skinny “clamshell” things. brrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh

At the little mom and pop place I worked at in college, we used to do the same thing with cassettes, which were a high shrinkage item. I think we dreaded dealing with customers at least as much as they dreaded dealing with us.

I like dealing with record store folks! Just not buying an unsealed CD, ha ha

When i went to buy The Burning World by the Swans on cassette i was mistakenly given Waiting for Cousteau by Jean Michel Jarre.

One of my friends at the store was really good at getting people excited about buying stuff they never would have thought of. I think he sold more Eno tapes than the rest of us combined.

reminiscing about that period from about late 2006-2009 when Universal put all their UK CDs in a 'Super Jewel Box'. Sturdier than a normal jewel box but uglier with the compromises they've had to make to the left hand side.

https://i.etsystatic.com/26921815/r/il/c10547/4839816969/il_570xN.4839816969_jsar.jpg

I was especially fond of the ones on which the hinge pieces snapped off particularly easily.

i have a weird dumb “blue dress gold dress” thing with those cases where they look “refined and elevated” to me if it’s an audiophile disc but absolute cheap trash if it’s just a normal cd.

Analogue Productions uses them. Booklets can be tough to get out without causing a crease or dimple on them.