Whatever happened to the LOOK of a CD?

So, CD's, or the actual medium, are screen printed still, right? So why is it these days the rule is to have the CD art look like a crappy home-printed label rather than having some of the disc show through? I'm sure everyone's familiar with the old Atlantic discs with plain text and outer border. I haven't seen this in a long time, and I really miss the look. So why did this happen? Cutting costs? In that case I think less printing would save money, but I'm ignorant on the manufacturing process.

Your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes, these discs and their packages look like amateur hour on a photoshop forum, which destroys me. I'd almost rather have what you're describing (plain disc and tray card) with a really NICE cover image on the front. Hell, throw plain text lyrics in a booklet with a thank you from the artist and I'd be on board with that if the music and cover image were actually ICONIC.

I think it's because labels realized that consumers did not care what's on the physical cd because you can't see it when it's being played.  Initially, cds looked like vinyl labels (eg - the atlantic cds) because that was the old standard.  Then labels moved to a picture disc look when it became clear no one looked at the actual cd for things like track numbers and running time.  Finally, cds sales collapsed and the labels lost all interest in the packaging and artwork because there would be little to no return on investment.  At least that's my theory.

The long boxes that CD's first came in were pretty cool.
I know they were only made so they would stand up as tall as LP's in record bins, but any bonus packaging is good.

I remember when Ryko first released Hendrix Radio One it was sold for huge amounts of money because it was a "PICTURE DISC!!". I didn't fall for that for one minute. It was one of the first to feature artwork on the label instead of the generic record labels or just black ink with the songs listed. But I knew it was a ploy to jack up prices.

mlotek wrote:

The long boxes that CD's first came in were pretty cool.
I know they were only made so they would stand up as tall as LP's in record bins, but any bonus packaging is good.

Yeah! That was cool. A buddy of mine has a few still sealed. You can see and feel a difference in the jewel cases from the 80's versus now too. The weight is probably half now compared to then. For shame!