Are CD jewel cases sacred?

i'm one of those people who still collect albums. I want the artwork and everything.

MP3 players are great for traveling, but I honestly am still all about just putting in a cd and letting the whole thing play.

Dupek, are you hitting on me?

I fully agree with you about the draft…unfortunately. Plus, with this police state mentality slamming down on us, I bet you they won't lower the drinking age this time around either. Not that that is the most important aspect of the whole thing.

i still get cds. . although after many years, i've determined that rykodisc really screwed with people by using crappy materials that broke in a few years.

sorry to say but pic surly posted was shall we safe not very work safe, even with all the naughty bits hidden…

And it was a bit disturbing…

But not as disturbing as this:

Teledildonics

redsock as far as which forum post deals with the complete package, this has been debated almost since lala went public. I'm not sure if outside links into the lala forum will work…. so look for the one that is entitled "For the first time today, I had to question whether lala is worth it"

It of course kicked off several other whiny CD artwork threads.

Basically, lala only guarantees that a CD will be playable when it arrives, something that in 258 incoming CDs has only happen once for me. A CD arrived broke courtesy the USPS. I got one truly trashed CD, that unfortunately played despite it's condition.

lala allows people the option of getting CDs with artwork, but in order to ship to a artwork preferred only the booklet is required to fulfill the trade. But, it's not guaranteed and some have gotten CDs without the required booklet, which hasn't been a problem for me.

The minute the new policy was announced the moaning began… Be it over not being able to get the complete product, the occasional folded tray card, you name it those who have dug in their heels have kept alive the "Artwork Wars" alive and kickin' since the policy was set.

lala reasoning behind the booklet only requirement was to allowed those who keep CDs in binders and often toss the tray card to trade.

Thankfully due to the fact that most of the CDs I get are of the type collectors buy and tend to keep in their jewel cases so getting the booklet and tray card hasn't been a problem for me. Plus, the CDs are in much better condition.

Econo, I did exactly what you're thinking about. I tossed out all the jewel cases, and kept the booklet and CD and put it all in a binder. All of my music is stored on a hard drive now anyway, so the CDs are really just a backup. My whole CD collection now takes up the space of a few books, whereas it used to take many shelves.

It's a bad idea to get rid of the CDs themselves. Besides the backup thing, as data storage gets cheaper you may eventually wish to convert to lossless, as I am now doing. But jewel cases offer no better storage than a good binder.

If for some reason I feel I need jewel cases again, I could always just get some. But the only reason I could imagine for that is if I someday wanted to resell the CDs. Jewel cases are hideous. I haven't missed them at all!

Here's the beef:
Those 2 tiny corner hinge tabs. Why do they always snap off at the slightest whim? Were they purposely designed that way?

ding ding ding! consumerism 101: don't design yourself out of a future market, especially with a product like music that you'll continue wanting for a long time (we're still buying beatles and elvis albums), i.e. long after one incarnation of it has "accidentally" broken. and by accidental, i mean less-than-normal usage.

designed obsolescence really pisses me off.

Redsock, here's the original thread:

Go LaLa For Used-CD Venture

http://www.930.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=012591

i keep the liner notes for older discs and usually keep the whole case for discs bought in the last 2 years or so. i have been doing that for a while. the ol' 400 disc needs a re-racking w/ some of it just thrown in the trash and some to be put in blank cd spindles, no doubt rarely to be seen again. i play cds at home and in the car. i play them in the car b/c i feel like the price of an adpater is just a ripoff designed to take adavantage of the situation. i play them at home b/c they sound a lot better. all cds go directly on the computer before they can get scratched.

question: do you have any antecdotes about the quality of ipod (rca w/ headphone end) cords for your home stereo? maybe mine is just junk b/c the sound quality difference b/t a cd playing vs. an ipod is easily discernable. should that not be the case?

the quality of sound from an Ipod to a stereo is vastly diminished compared with a CD. Even an Ipod vs a home computer playing MP3s shows a marked reduction in sound quality. Apple has invested a lot of effort into the design and ergonomics of the Ipod, not so much into fidelity.

At DJ nights, I can always tell when someone is using an Ipod, because the sound is so flat. If you want to play MP3s at home, you're better off playing them from your computer, either with a decent cord connection or Airtunes.

I get pretty much all of my music on iTunes these days. If I actually do buy a CD, I rip it as soon as I get a chance and the CD and its case go into a box with all the others.