CD sales up. Maybe a good sign.

[Soundfield]

I am finding that the cardboard cases ARE more durable. I have had too many broken cases in the mail, and even after I got them in perfect condition. Thing happen to them. The jewel case is an engineering disaster.

I guess I must be lucky. I’ve thousands of CDs – the majority have come through the post (including lots from Europe) and I’ve had very, very few problems with damaged jewel cases. Way less than 0.5% I’d have thought. Not had many ‘in use’ failures either. A very long time ago I bought a whole pile of spare jewel cases of various capacities from 1 to 4 discs should I need to replace any that broke. That was a waste of money – I’ve barely used any of them! I still buy several new CDs a month but have never seen a cardboard case.

 

[Bill B]

I am finding that the cardboard cases ARE more durable.

Really???! Try carrying them back and forth in a gym bag to work every day for a few months or leaving them in the car for a couple of months. Yes the hard plastic jewel cases will crack and break but I can replace them and they look brand new with both the cover art and cd still in perfect condition. How do I replace a worn and/or broken digipak?

 

[Bill B]

I guess I must be lucky. I’ve thousands of CDs – the majority have come through the post (including lots from Europe) and I’ve had very, very few problems with damaged jewel cases. Way less than 0.5% I’d have thought. Not had many ‘in use’ failures either. A very long time ago I bought a whole pile of spare jewel cases of various capacities from 1 to 4 discs should I need to replace any that broke. That was a waste of money – I’ve barely used any of them! I still buy several new CDs a month but have never seen a cardboard case.

I've bought hundreds of jewel cases through the years. Most were used for compilation/greatest hits cds that I burn myself or for family and friends. The degree to which you need to replace broken jewel cases is directly proportional to how often you listen to the cd and where you listen to them. I take them in the car, on the beach, outside when I am washing the car or doing yard work, etc.. Also if you drop one you can bet it will land and break on those damn tabs.

 

[Soundfield]

I've bought hundreds of jewel cases through the years. Most were used for compilation/greatest hits cds that I burn myself or for family and friends. The degree to which you need to replace broken jewel cases is directly proportional to how often you listen to the cd and where you listen to them. I take them in the car, on the beach, outside when I am washing the car or doing yard work, etc.. Also if you drop one you can bet it will land and break on those damn tabs.

I guess that may well be true. Perhaps my CDs are pampered - they never leave the house and If I ever drop one the hardest thing it would hit would be carpet!

 

[Bill B]

I guess that may well be true. Perhaps my CDs are pampered - they never leave the house and If I ever drop one the hardest thing it would hit would be carpet!

Well I pamper the actual discs when I handle them and insert and remove them from the player but once they are in a properly functioning jewel case I don't have to worry, they are well protected and safe thanks to the durability of the jewel case.

 

[Soundfield]

thanks to the durability of the jewel case.

I thought you said you were always breaking them?

 

[kfbkfb]

Why can't you use the headphone output, convert to line level and feed a matrix decoder?

It was a fairly common thing in the early days of CD players to use 1 DAC, switched between L and R, for some reason, mfrs didn't include a time delay in one channel to compensate.

The time delay is a frequency varying phase shift between L and R.

My 1st home CD player was a Magnavox (Philips) player which had 2 DACs and no phase shift between the channels.

Unfortunately, my Pioneer CLD-900 LD[w/digital audio]/CD player has 1 switched DAC and isn't really suitable for DS decoding (although the 7kHz surround channel bandwidth reduces the error).


Kirk Bayne

 

[Bill B]

I thought you said you were always breaking them?

Good one!
OK I will spell it out slowly. They are breaking because they take the abuse that would otherwise be inflicted on the cd. They are durable with respect to toughness and the abuse they can take while still protecting the important content. They are also, with the exception of special casee (like Tool's Aenema lenticular jewel case or Alice In Chain's day-glow jewel case) totally replaceable for about a dollar or two, unlike digipaks which aren't as durable and are totally unreplaceable.

I don't know, you tell me, which will take more abuse and still protect the contents, a hard plastic jewel case or a cardboard digipak. Whichever you decide would, by definition, be more durable.

 

[Soundfield]

I don't know, you tell me, which will take more abuse and still protect the contents, a hard plastic jewel case or a cardboard digipak.

Well I'm going to take wild stab here - is it the the polycarbonate jewel case? The cardboard jobs sound like a ghastly idea but as I said I've never come across one.

 

[Bill B]

Well I'm going to take wild stab here - is it the the polycarbonate jewel case? The cardboard jobs sound like a ghastly idea but as I said I've never come across one.

Really, you've never gotten a cd in a digipak? All of the last batch of Zep re-ssiues came in them. The Paul McCartney deluxe discs that have been issued over the last few years. The Steven Wilson Yes blurays. The last batch of Floyd catalog remasters. Black Keys, Hendrix, Rush. SOundgarden, Pearl Jam, Springsteen all have multiple cds released in digipaks.

 

[gene_stl]

iirc the standard jewel case is polystyrene. it gets more brittle with age. I never throw out a jewel case when I trash a computer disc and when I buy used CDs I can replace the frequent broken lids from the spares. They break way too easily, imho for example, if the opening force is not in exactly the plane it needs to be in.

The super jewel case is made of thicker material. It has a much better hinge. Some are polystyrene too , others are better materials, but even if it is, it is a better design and should be much more durable. They are on sale for various prices on fleabay mostly more than I would care to pay for an empty case. Poly styrene ones start at about $1.00 each and go up to prices where there ought to be a disc of good music included.

The cardboard digipaks do seem to occupy less volume ( a serious advantage) but the surface of the disc (whichever flavor of disc) is pressed against the cardboard. That can't be good. The center snap support of a jewel case would seem to me to be advantageous. I think the digipaks are trying to make an unconscious connection to LPs. they should have a microfiber inner sleeve.

 

[Owen Smith]

I don't like digipaks, I much prefer to get my CDs in jewel cases because as has been said they better protect the discs and all the parts that break can be replaced.

Someone said blu ray players are in the majority of households. Not in the UK they're not, last time I saw a figure it was about a third of UK households compared to 75% with DVD players. Average UK consumers don't see the need to upgrade, or if they do they jump straight to streaming and keep the DVD player just to play the discs they already own.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Someone said blu ray players are in the majority of households. Not in the UK they're not, last time I saw a figure it was about a third of UK households compared to 75% with DVD players. Average UK consumers don't see the need to upgrade, or if they do they jump straight to streaming and keep the DVD player just to play the discs they already own.

My guess is its the same in the US.

 

[Bill B]

My guess is its the same in the US.

I agree. I have no idea what the actual numbers are, but based on the unscientific and small sample base of the people I know, most could not care less about getting a blu-ray player or even owning blu-rays vs. dvds. Furthermore they movies they watch on dvd are so far and few between, that they probably wouldn't be in any rush to replace their dvd player if it broke. To people like us it seems silly since you can get a good BR player for less than a tank of gas, but we are not normal.

 

[Soundfield]

Really, you've never gotten a cd in a digipak? All of the last batch of Zep re-ssiues came in them. The Paul McCartney deluxe discs that have been issued over the last few years. The Steven Wilson Yes blurays. The last batch of Floyd catalog remasters. Black Keys, Hendrix, Rush. SOundgarden, Pearl Jam, Springsteen all have multiple cds released in digipaks.

Nope, thankfully, not one. In fact I've never even heard the term digipak until now. Perhaps it's a form of packaging confined to the world of pop music.

 

[Soundfield]

iirc the standard jewel case is polystyrene.

Yes, you are correct. I miss-typed! it is of course the discs themselves that are polycarbonate.

 

[Bill B]

Nope, thankfully, not one. In fact I've never even heard the term digipak until now. Perhaps it's a form of packaging confined to the world of pop music.

Apparently. but damn, that's amazing.
I guess your extensive cd collection looks much different than mine.

 

[jefe1]

Give Soundfield a break he was just woken up from the Matrix and Morphius is helping him.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Nope, thankfully, not one. In fact I've never even heard the term digipak until now. Perhaps it's a form of packaging confined to the world of pop music.

Nay, Soundfield. Digipaks are also utilized for BD~A/Vs, as well which usually include RBCDs.

Example:

 

[gene_stl]

There seem to be cases made from materials better than polystyrene too. The BD cases are made of PE or PP and some SACD cases are made of something better. too. I guess you have to look at the recycling symbol.