Digi-sleeves / Digibooks - worst packaging ever

I recently bought a couple of Converge albums as I had heard their stuff on Spotify, liked it a lot and wanted some of their albums in my collection. I bought their 2012 release of "All We Love We Leave Behind" and their 2009 release of "Axe to Fall'. Both of these came in digi-sleeves, which means the CD is not actually held in a traditional, tried and tested, tray (as you would find with most digipaks).

Digi-sleeves are also known as mini-lps - thus you have a gate-fold with artwork inside, lyrics what not and the booklet and cd are on the inner sleeves of each fold. Perfect concept for vinyl but why would you want to replicate it for the CD format?

Here is my gripe, when you attempt to remove / slide out the CD, because it is not protected by anything and it is so firmly and tightly inside the sleeve, it will scratch! The scratches are not deep, more like very light surface marks and should (hopefully) not affect the playback longevity of the album. However, it is still quite painful to see slight marks on what was a second ago an otherwise brand new, mint fresh album!

In the case of the Converge albums - I bought these online and the site did not advertise them as being encased in mini-lp format. Moreso, I have since found out that Converge's latest albums have not been released in standard jewel cases at all. You have 2 options - digi-sleeve for the standard and/or deluxe edition (I believe the latter is a digibook) or vinyl...

Thankfully I rip all my original cds in lossless so there won't be much mileage on either of these CDs beyond this initial interaction.

What is your experience with digi-sleeves / digibooks? Have your CDs been ruined as a result of this type of packaging ?

If ya burn/rip what's the hassle ?.....just be careful removong/replacing in appropriate place and stick it back wherever ya store it. I have broken more discs taking them out of jewel cases over the years than scratched in this type of packaging.

James B. wrote:

If ya burn/rip what's the hassle ?.....just be careful removong/replacing in appropriate place and stick it back wherever ya store it. I have broken more discs taking them out of jewel cases over the years than scratched in this type of packaging.

I guess it's just my degree of OCD showing through. I want the albums in my collection to be in mint condition. This is a big reason why I rip all my CDs (other than for efficiency).

It really depends on how it is designed. The mini-lp replicas I have all came with poly bags the CDs go into (just like lps), so no problem with those.

I've seen what you are talking about in some box sets. My friends has the complete Miles Davis on Columbia set (70 CDs) and they are all mini-LP sleeves but very flimsy and have no poly bags, I don't like that design but if I bought a 70CD box set I wouldn't want them in jewel cases either because that would weigh a ton and be bulky as hell.

The Duke Ellington box set I own also used flimsy cardboard sleeves, there were exactly 24 CDs in that set so I went out and bought a little 24-CD holder and put the discs in there, they were easier to get to that way as well.

Alex Dee Rokket wrote:

James B. wrote:

If ya burn/rip what's the hassle ?.....just be careful removong/replacing in appropriate place and stick it back wherever ya store it. I have broken more discs taking them out of jewel cases over the years than scratched in this type of packaging.

I guess it's just my degree of OCD showing through. I want the albums in my collection to be in mint condition. This is a big reason why I rip all my CDs (other than for efficiency).

understandable

I was taught to "handle" vinyl in a certain "caring/nurturing? manner and it kinda/sorta carrried over to how I do the same with other forms of media.

What I hate about the digi-sleeves is trying to get them out when driving. Given myself several nasty paper cuts doing this.

I dislike any packaging that is not the standard jewel case.

I deal with it, because it's not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I prefer my CDs to be bejeweled.

ZombieHavoc wrote:

I dislike any packaging that is not the standard jewel case.

I deal with it, because it's not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I prefer my CDs to be bejeweled.

Same here. While I do pretty much keeps my stuff in excellent condition, I like have the option of easily replacing the jewelcase if something gets damaged. I especially hate the digi packs with the plastic spindles glued in. If the center teeth get busted, you're pretty much screwed.