worst packaging ever?

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June of 44 TOTALLY. Where the fuck am I gonna put a matchbook?

My hubby got a noise CD that was packaged between two sheets of steel. He regretted this when we had our next fight, ouch

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Friday, 5 March 2004 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

TOTAL RECALL SPECIAL EDITION DVD RULES

― astroblaster (astroblaster), Saturday, 6 March 2004 00:24 (twenty years ago) link

Storm and Stress's second record...umm, what the fuck.

― ddb, Saturday, 6 March 2004 03:51 (twenty years ago) link

new Talking Heads box set... Jesus Ache!

― donut bitch (donut), Saturday, 6 March 2004 03:56 (twenty years ago) link

nb the Fall DVD/video is entirely worth acquiring anyway because of the spastic Brix dancing on the Eat Y'Self Fitter video, it is God

― ferg (Ferg), Saturday, 6 March 2004 04:43 (twenty years ago) link

The Cult's Rare Cult box set is very poorly made.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 6 March 2004 04:55 (twenty years ago) link

Well, just everything that exceeds the dimensions af a jewel case. Therefore: digipacks are cool. But the cd-wrecking white carton the Basic Channel disc originaly came in, the New Tweedy Bros packaging (an incrediblely large carton hexagon) and a lot of the Staalplaat Label repertoire (just use whatever material you'll find and put a disc with it) originated in hell.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Saturday, 6 March 2004 09:11 (twenty years ago) link

But the cd-wrecking white carton the Basic Channel disc originaly came in

Really? I didn't mind that one (esp. compared to those Chain Reaction tins). That cd still works perfectly.

― Omar (Omar), Saturday, 6 March 2004 09:25 (twenty years ago) link

It didn't fit into my cd-cabinet, so... When the tin-boxed version came around I exchanged it almost immediately.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Saturday, 6 March 2004 09:47 (twenty years ago) link

haha, everyone knew this thead was going to be about aluminum tunes. basically, any card/digipak/fancy sleeve is always a mistake in the long run

― gareth (gareth), Saturday, 6 March 2004 10:03 (twenty years ago) link

All four disc trays fell out of my copy of the Joy Division Heart and Soul box on the first day.

― Hayden Nicholls (Pop the Weasel), Saturday, 6 March 2004 12:39 (twenty years ago) link

They should've just used chewing gum on those.

― Andy K (Andy K), Saturday, 6 March 2004 13:16 (twenty years ago) link

This one's a real bummer - the Harry Smith vol.4 CD-book thing on Revenant. I've actually LOST the first CD somewhere - those fuckers just roll out all over the place. And the hardcover on the book seems to be slowly bending outwards. Shame, really, considering the effort that went into this thing.

― radio morocco (radio morocco), Saturday, 6 March 2004 14:22 (twenty years ago) link

oh god, heart and soul...i remember admiring it lovingly on the walk home, and by the next day it looked as if the dog had been chewing on it all night.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 6 March 2004 14:32 (twenty years ago) link

the charlie christian box set "genius of electric guitar." cool looking idea--the box looks like an old amplifier, but inside is a terrible foam base that you have to shove the cds into.

― marcg (marcg), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:07 (twenty years ago) link

I'll echo what everybody's been saying about Tougher Than Tough-style box sets and Basic Channel/Chain Reaction CDs, but let's face it, standard jewel cases are crap, too. The tray clasps and hinges always break, and who can be bothered to replace them?

Any single-record vinyl release with a doublefold jacket, especially when there's just a crummy photo inside and nothing useful like lyrics -- did another tree have to die just to satiate your vanity?

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:08 (twenty years ago) link

For that matter, multi-CD jewel boxes, while sturdier, also blow. If you get the slim ones, it's often tricky to get the 2nd CD underneath the tray; the standard boxy ones always have clasps with a tenuous hold on the CD for some reason.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:11 (twenty years ago) link

CDs stored in DVD cases are cool, and solve a number of the aforementioned problems, but are usually impossible to file.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:13 (twenty years ago) link

Any opinions on the SaCD jewel case? I like them.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:17 (twenty years ago) link

I hate anything where the size is based on the LP. I was cleaning out a closet and I found the Dylan Biograph box set, complete with LP-sized liner notes. I just stared at those notes, thinking What the fuck am I going to do with these? I think I wound up throwing them away.

― subgenius (subgenius), Saturday, 6 March 2004 15:27 (twenty years ago) link

I know it's standard procedure, but I have always hated those clingy plastic sleeves newer records and reissues are released with. It's like shoving a garbage bag into the jacket.

Also, the original vinyl of Sticky Fingers could get honors in both "Worst Packaging Ever" and "Best Packaging Ever".

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 6 March 2004 17:41 (twenty years ago) link

new Talking Heads box set... Jesus Ache!
amen to that. I think it affected my enjoyment of the music, i.e. nothing sounded as good as I remembered. and the liner notes totally sucked, like bad short stories from the 1980s. Yuck!

― lovebug starski, Saturday, 6 March 2004 18:37 (twenty years ago) link

I use one of those big books to keep all my CDr burns and promos and other things that didn't come in jewel cases.

I'm finally going to get one of these soon for my mp3 discs. I only just got around to cataloging the damn things so I knew what exactly I had (unsurprisingly, it was quite a lot).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 6 March 2004 18:54 (twenty years ago) link

nuts, subgenius, i wish you had mailed that biograph booklet to me! i love huge, cool pics of dylan.

― morris pavilion (samjeff), Saturday, 6 March 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago) link

btw ned, I owe you a CD, it'll be on the way shortly...

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 6 March 2004 19:42 (twenty years ago) link

:-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 6 March 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

The original packaging of Bowie's Sound + Vision box set was quite clunky. Likewise Metallica's Binge & Purge boxset (augmented with now unbelievably dated VHS tapes)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 6 March 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

Any LP with angled jacket corners. Don't fuck with the formula, wiseguys.

― maypang (maypang), Saturday, 6 March 2004 20:32 (twenty years ago) link

Mmm, yeah. But this Monty Pythons Flying Circus Album with the cover artwork that you could transform in such a way that it resembled a large stack of crazy non-existent albums was cool.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Saturday, 6 March 2004 20:37 (twenty years ago) link

Heh. I saw one of those things put together the other week. I didn't realize it came from an actual record jacket.

― maypang (maypang), Saturday, 6 March 2004 21:24 (twenty years ago) link

Bjork - "Family Tree"
I simply don't have two hours to put that shit away before I pick up the kids from soccer. It's enough making sure the vials are hidden.

― Bjorn Kipling, Sunday, 7 March 2004 05:07 (twenty years ago) link

Boy, am I glad I bought Aluminum Tunes on vinyl - lovely fold-out triptych and it still smells good. Chain Reaction - usually have more trouble getting the thing back in than out.

Worst - David Sylvian's Everything and Nothing comp. Four-panel digipak: disc 1, bonus disc 3 in very snug slide-in slipcase, artwork, disc 2. Getting bonus CD out means folding pack back on itself or digging around in slip panel with fingernails. Yes, it's ripped.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:13 (twenty years ago) link

The one time I bought a Japanese version of a Stereolab release was the Aluminum Tunes package. I guess in retrospect, it was a wise decision.

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:17 (twenty years ago) link

That reminds me... Fiel Garvie – Leave Me Out Of This.
Did anyone succeed in getting that digipack out of the carton slipcase without any damage done? I ruined both my slipcase and good humour.

― Roger in Mokum (Roger T), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

One of the most ambitiously worst packagings ever was a Flaming Lips CD-single for "Bad Days"... the second of two import singles from the UK came in this green shampoo gel-packed thing... the "shampoo" has now since hardened, but still every CD within 3 or 4 cases of this thing now all smell like sweet dishwasher liquid.

Second most ambitiously worst packaging ever was a (drum roll) Flaming Lips single... again. This time, the "This Here Giraffe" part 2 CD-single.. the CD was cut into a star-shape.. so only top loading CD players can (maybe) play it. What makes it more frustrating is that the B-sides are one of the rare B-sides for the Lips that are GOOD! (Peel session versions of "Hit To Death" era songs)

― donut bitch (donut), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

LP sleeves with an angle cut on the corner is just plain dumb, you want your record to look like a cut-out?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:23 (twenty years ago) link

The Mojo 4-CD Psych box was cool and came in a record sized box and had a nice booklet except none of the 4 CD's would stay in their little spoke holes and thus you had a box set where all 4 CD's were just rattling around together loose! Every store that went to the trouble of carrying it in Philly had this problem when they recieved them. I shouldn't complain though, cuz i got mine cheap as the store i got it at was just gonna send it back thinking no one would want to buy it(so i basically got it for a little bit more than cost so that they didn't have to send it back to London). I keep meaning to just put the CD's in sleeves but i always forget to. Then when i pick it up i hear the cd's clattering to the floor of the box from their upright positions.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:25 (twenty years ago) link

from the UK came in this green shampoo gel-packed thing...

My Spectrum gel-pack is still nice and gooey. Slayer put out a nice blood-gel pack once.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:27 (twenty years ago) link

My Heart & Soul box is losing the will to live as well. But it's hanging in there.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 7 March 2004 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...

Not the worst ever, in fact it looks rather lovely, but I swear I've spent half an hour pulling, tapping and coaxing just to get my copy of Múm's "Summer Make Good" out of the flipping cardboard pocket without ripping the pocket or scratching the disc.

Now that I've finally got at the disc I feel more like playing Hüsker Dü than I do Múm.

― Snnap Dragon (snnap dragon), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:04 (twenty years ago) link

Anything digipak, but ESPECIALLY the Australian version of the Avalanches' Since I Left You. I have four copies of said record and in every one the teeth have been removed.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:13 (twenty years ago) link

What's w/ the digipack hate?

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:20 (twenty years ago) link

Herbie Hancock's "Box"
I burned it to hard drive and gave it away. How many ways was this flawed? Too heavy, too easy to break, inserts easily lost, difficult to get open, impossible to store, bulky AND if you dropped it on your foot, you could break a toe.
Suckadellic.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

Digipacks wear quickly, the plastic CD holder often becomes unstuck - but when this happens you can't replace it like you can with a normal
CD case - simple as that.

My current buggabear is the metal Fabriclive cases.

― Jedmond (Jedmond), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:27 (twenty years ago) link

the madonna sex book was dodgy.

― shookout (shookout), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:34 (twenty years ago) link

I guess I like the cover wear with digipacks. I was just thinking that I don't think I could ever describe a CD in a jewel box as having intersting packaging. I've hated the jewel case design from day one. I haven't had much problem with spindle breakage & digipacks.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:35 (twenty years ago) link

Fabriclive! yes! especially the Craig Richards "Tyrant" set which holds 2 cd's when it cant even hold one properly.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:42 (twenty years ago) link

The Scat Records "Those were Different Times" 3x10" is an annoying package. It's screwed together on the spine and the nuts always need tightening. Also, its a triple ten inch! The Ziggy Stardust 2cd anniversary edition has totally fallen apart already, as well. Book style packaging of cd's has got to be done in the right way to make it work. Like the Miles Davis Complete Jack Johnson or Grow Fins. But both of those have their problems as well, I suppose. I like digipaks.

― Sean Witzman (trip maker), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 16:47 (twenty years ago) link

the staalplatt mort aux vaches CDs are in crappy packages; I only have the piano magic and tarentel ones, but both are just wraparound covers (pm is cardboard, tarentel is vinyl) that affix tot he cd with a brad. crap for such limited edition releases.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 17:03 (twenty years ago) link

the blackbean placenta ones are annoying.

bottleskup flenkenkenmike sucked... like the aluminum tunes packaging but worse... which, the LP copy of AT was ace. no sweat at all.

i hate all those cheap cases were the teeth break easily and cd shakes around inside. lame.

lot's of noise bands think it's just peachy to release stuff in weird packaging... it's a real scourge to deal with. i've got a whole shelf full of over-sized and oddly shaped cd packages. new faggot cunts put theirs in a cloth sleeve with a button. it's actually kind of nice, but still unweildy.

warp's use of book-style jackets is neat, but annoying to pay for. i remember the first one being gallo's record and it fit his 50s crooner thing and the old style LP jackets, but to see broadcast and boards of canada do it sort of lost the point to me.

was it aphex twin who had that odd 1.5-2 12" LPs wide monster lp thingy? it was like 12.5 x 25 inches or something. ugh.

odd shaped cds like the chinese stars annoy me too. if you don't have center-locked cd player, you have to hope you centered it in your computer's cd tray... and in general it's just gonna bitch and send it back out.

why don't bands go cheap and spend the extra on a dinner and a movie. really! treat yourself!
m.

― msp, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 17:40 (twenty years ago) link

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