Long Boxes

Does anyone else have some of these in their collections ? I assume it was the states where they originated as they certainly couldn't be found in any store over here in Ireland.

Here's 4 I have, I've them years but I thankfully never got into collecting them as they are probably expensive to pick up nowadays ? the Crimson Glory & C.I.A are both sealed still.

In the States CDs used to always come in long boxes. I never understood that. Most of the time the CD was in the bottom half and the top part was hollow. Sadly, I threw all the boxes away.

yeah, I had some in long box but unfortunately I thought at the time they were just packaging.

I used to cut out the front of the boxes that had album art on them and hang them on my wall.
They were a terrible waste of trees so I can understand why they were phased out, but I have to say, the "gallery" on my bedroom wall looked pretty damn cool while it lasted.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I used to cut out the front of the boxes that had album art on them and hang them on my wall.
They were a terrible waste of trees so I can understand why they were phased out, but I have to say, the "gallery" on my bedroom wall looked pretty damn cool while it lasted.

My friend David used to do the same thing, and it looked damn cool, I think he saved alot of those long boxes but he did get married to a wench who does not even allow him to listen to music, thank God my wife is n't like that or I would have kicked her to the curb by now.

I think I have a Joe Satriani long box still.

I wish I had saved my long boxes from back in the day.....

thejokeriv wrote:

I wish I had saved my long boxes from back in the day.....

Yeah,me too.I've had several over the years but like alot here never held onto them.

Weren't those originally designed like that so that they would fit into the stands ? At that early point I thought stands were bigger to accomodate records so the long box was used to fit in them properly. Maybe I'm wrong. But I do miss the cool packaging.

007 wrote:

Weren't those originally designed like that so that they would fit into the stands ? At that early point I thought stands were bigger to accomodate records so the long box was used to fit in them properly. Maybe I'm wrong. But I do miss the cool packaging.

Yep - that was the whole reason back in the day. The record stores could fit 2 long boxes in 1 LP bin

007 wrote:

Weren't those originally designed like that so that they would fit into the stands ? At that early point I thought stands were bigger to accomodate records so the long box was used to fit in them properly. Maybe I'm wrong. But I do miss the cool packaging.

Yup, that's why. The long boxes were sized that way so they'd fit into pre-existing record store "bins" that were made to accommodate vinyl LPs.

*EDIT* I see Joker and I both said pretty much the same thing at the same time. Haha.

007 wrote:

Weren't those originally designed like that so that they would fit into the stands ? At that early point I thought stands were bigger to accomodate records so the long box was used to fit in them properly. Maybe I'm wrong. But I do miss the cool packaging.

That may have been a part of it.

I thought it was an anti-theft thing. The idea was that the cd itself was so small it would be easily shoplifted. If they put it in big packaging, it would be harder to lift. In theory anyway. Cassette tapes were just as small, but I guess the new, expensive cd format was more valuable.

I was so late in buying a cd player, the longboxes were already being phased out. I may have bought a few here and there, but I never thought of collecting or saving the packaging. I mainly recall struggling with the plastic holders that had the shape of the longbox.

Ok cool.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I mainly recall struggling with the plastic holders that had the shape of the longbox.

Oh I hated those things too !

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I mainly recall struggling with the plastic holders that had the shape of the longbox.

Oh man, I hated those friggin things. They used those on cassettes back in the day as well. Eventually record stores started removing the holders at the checkout counter so they could re-use them, but early on I can remember taking quite a few tapes home from the store with the holder still on em and then spending half of a day trying to cut 'em open with a scissor, while trying not to destroy the cassette case!

Being a young shoplifter, I didn't mind the plastic cassette protectors. The ones that were used at National Record Mart were easy to hold in one hand and crack open. I miss the days before theft scanners in stores.

SpectreFate wrote:

Being a young shoplifter, I didn't mind the plastic cassette protectors. The ones that were used at National Record Mart were easy to hold in one hand and crack open. I miss the days before theft scanners in stores.

Fortunatley for me, I had guys working on the inside. I had buddies that worked at Tower Records, who'd let us know when security was or wasn't working. I got allot of cassette tapes that way. By the time I had purchased a cd player, they had upped the ante with the scanners and stuff. And I was also old enough to get arrested and charged as an adult, so my "5-finger-discount" days came to an abrupt halt.

I have a few of them.
Crimson Glory- Transendence
King Diamond/Mercyful Fate- A Dangerous Meeting
Helloween- Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part 2
Exodus- Good Friendly Violent Fun (which I don't own any more)
Spinal Tap- Break Like The Wind

I might have a few more. I also had a Kreator and Flotsam and Jetsam but I cut them up and hung the pictures on my wall.

I passed up a longbox version of Fear of Gods "within the veil" at a record store here once. It was only like 7 bucks or something. Definately funky packaging.


I dont know media stuff that well, but Im pretty sure sony playstation games used to come in a similar type packaging when some of the first games came out.

This reminds of Star Wars figures - those who bought and kept them in packaging are sitting pretty right now..

What's a long box?

EvyMetal wrote:

What's a long box?

A method of CD packaging that was phased out before you were born.

I have a few left, includingone for the short lived Moonstone records.

Fat Freddy wrote:

EvyMetal wrote:

What's a long box?

A method of CD packaging that was phased out before you were born.

I found one recently:



I opened it, took out the CD, and threw the box away. Haha.

thejokeriv wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

EvyMetal wrote:

What's a long box?

A method of CD packaging that was phased out before you were born.

That's why I asked. Seeing what kind of response I would get.