Well, they had to come up with a way to charge $50 or there about per title, and have them as export pressings. So while the covers, especially the foil print as not that cheap to make, all the goodies that come with these are all scans and reprints of existing items. And that is why folks want them and buy them. They like all these pretty extras printed so nicely and assembled like a work of art.
But I can see how putting the discs into slim-line cases and never having to open these up to get the discs makes a lot of sense.
Where the whole thing has value to me is the first class mastering from genuine first generation master tapes, and the albums are for the most part are good solid choices. If the music was not great and they were not in quad, and the mastering wasn't damn good then no amount of fancy packaging would be worth it.
We are lucky that when AF closed down - we had Japanese 7" series, DV catalog rolling out rock, and now Quadio bringing home the bacon.
Just amazing and magical things happening. And Sony Japan have been hitting mostly home runs with the quad masters.
