Those stupid plastic things (teeth?) in CD cases that always break

[blind-blake]

I think you know what I'm talking about: Those little plastic things at the center of the CD box that hold the CDs in place and which always break -- especially the ones that come with the "deluxe" box sets. (For some stupid reason, these little monsters are glued with their trays to the deluxe CD packaging, and thus can't be replaced like the trays that come with regular CDs. Worse still is that are made of a harder and more brittle plastic in the deluxe packaging and are thus more prone to break.) I know this is all probably pretty stupid, but what do you do when you buy CDs that come with these broken things? Do you immediately return them? Live with the problem of the CDs flopping around inside the box? Fix them in some way (I'd be interested to know how you do that)? I'd say about 25% of the deluxe packaged sets I get come with these broken CD holders, so it's a bit of a hassle to always return them. Any Comments?

[7/4]

I'm not too happy either. I guess if I had a bit of time on my hands, I could take the jewel case apart and throw the little fuckers out.

.

[Aggie87]

Replacing them works well for jewel cases, but not so well for digipaks.

[J.A.W.]

  Aggie87 said:

Replacing them works well for jewel cases, but not so well for digipaks.

Yep, digipaks are a disaster in that respect.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

I just wrote to the bastids for such a thing this morning ... they pack shit so poorly that they nearly always break a hub tooth or case cover - maybe since most of the goods are imports one never knows when in the supply line the breakage occurs. if it's a jewel hub I just chuck it but the soft packs are the real pain.

I think you have a market here. What if one designed some sort of hard foam or pvc insert that could fit under the hub and still secure the disc to the backer? Then you just break out all the remaining teeth and replace with the new hub that allows the CD to squish onto the thing and stay put.

I remember David Byrne's 'Feelings' CD instructed you to bust out the teeth so the arrow printed disc could spin freely on the "color mood wheel".

[blind-blake]

I think we have the makings of a revolution here. I say we storm Verve headquarters, and kick the living shit out of all of those inconsiderate bastards. (Verve seems to be the biggest culprit.) Who's with me????? I'm warning you, however, that we are not taking any prisoners!!!!

Edited November 13, 2009 by blind-blake

[nemo7]

when discovered to be broken, remove the cd, gently now, and tip the open jewel case upside down and shake out the loose shards and if enough remain (usually finger tight) the disk can be reinserted and should be case secured-however, if there are not a sufficient amount of barbs remaining to hold tight the disk, then best to break out and remove all of the remaining teeth so that they will not mar your stored disk and of course the option to discard the complete case (less the booklet) and put it in another container can be done also or one can throw all of it away and start all over again, if time, opportunity and economics allows.

[blind-blake]

  nemo7 said:

when discovered to be broken, remove the cd, gently now, and tip the open jewel case upside down and shake out the loose shards and if enough remain (usually finger tight) the disk can be reinserted and should be case secured-however, if there are not a sufficient amount of barbs remaining to hold tight the disk, then best to break out and remove all of the remaining teeth so that they will not mar your stored disk and of course the option to discard the complete case (less the booklet) and put it in another container can be done also or one can throw all of it away and start all over again, if time, opportunity and economics allows.

Sound advice. But I still say we storm Verve headquarters!

[blind-blake]

  Man with the Golden Arm said:

I just wrote to the bastids for such a thing this morning ... they pack shit so poorly that they nearly always break a hub tooth or case cover - maybe since most of the goods are imports one never knows when in the supply line the breakage occurs. if it's a jewel hub I just chuck it but the soft packs are the real pain.

I think you have a market here. What if one designed some sort of hard foam or pvc insert that could fit under the hub and still secure the disc to the backer? Then you just break out all the remaining teeth and replace with the new hub that allows the CD to squish onto the thing and stay put.

I remember David Byrne's 'Feelings' CD instructed you to bust out the teeth so the arrow printed disc could spin freely on the "color mood wheel".

Yes, I like the foam idea! But can we still beat up some Verve executives? Please?

[GA Russell]

I bought a Bud Shank cd called This Bud's For You on 32 Jazz. Half its teeth were broken.

Remember those black plastic jewel cases that 32 Jazz releases came in? The liner notes page was glued to the inside of the front cover.

I've thought about putting the cd in a spare jewel case, but truth be told I've never gotten around to it.

[BruceH]

I always called them either inner hub spines or hub-holder teeth. Getting banged around in the mail isn't good for them, that's for sure.

[BFrank]

CD packaging is generally the worst designed of all.

When CDs came out they were touted as being indestructible (as opposed to records that scratch and warp). If that was true, why all the convoluted plastic protect-o cases at all? Just put them in cardboard sleeves like their "less durable" LP cousins?

Rediculous. One of the reasons I'm not all that sad to see CDs lose market share to downloads.

[JSngry]

Barbs! Yes! Barbs!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

(Looking innocent) I've never ever had a digipak CD with broken barbs. Plenty of the jewel cases, but never a digipak, nor even one of those 32 Jazz cases.

Only Organissimo's "Groovadelphia" has a set of barbs that don't hold the CD, so it falls out when I take it off the shelf. It's not broken - it's more a design feature.

MG

[BillF]

  BruceH said:

I always called them either inner hub spines or hub-holder teeth. Getting banged around in the mail isn't good for them, that's for sure.

The four-foot drop from my letterbox to the floor and Caiman's thin card packaging was a lethal combination.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

  BillF said:

The four-foot drop from my letterbox to the floor and Caiman's thin card packaging was a lethal combination.

Some suggestions (which can be forwarded to Viz, if you like)

Erect a trampoline behind your front door.

Always be careful to make up orders with more CDs than will go through your letterbox.

Instruct your missus to ensure that she is always ready to greet the postman with an open door and a smile and, (optionally) Jimmy Forrest's "Hey Mrs Jones" playing on the hifi.

MG

[BillF]

[BruceH]

  JSngry said:

Barbs! Yes! Barbs!

No, that's either

1) Short for "more than one Barbara"

2) Sharp hook-like things meant to catch in your clothes or scratch your skin

3) Sarcastic, sometimes mean, verbal rejoinders or interjections, usually of a put-down nature.

[bakeostrin]

I agree the digipaks with the "spindles" are a really bad design. The spindles break with regular handling. I will not put any more in my collection at this point; I prefer a mini LP, even if it's an import. So, "Sweets" and "Joe Newman at Count Basie's," I have in the Japanese version. Many of the Verve reissues did not have bonus tracks, so I don't lose much with the import. Of they cost a bit more.

At least the Verve Elite series came in digipaks that lacked spindles. Of course, the problem with that packaging is that it can scratch the CD. All in all, it is a bad design. Mini-LP in a sleeve is much better.

Also, if I got a digipak in the mail and it was broken, I would return it (if it were a collectible CD in the first place). With used product, I have seen sellers put a little piece of bubble wrap over the spindles so they don't break in transit (even for jewel cased material). Of course, with a sealed product, that is not an option. The seller should pack more carefully.

Regards,

Baker

[Jazzmoose]

DVD packagers have avoided this problem; I'd say the storming of Verve is a good idea. Make examples of them.

[BillF]

  Jazzmoose said:

the storming of Verve

Idea for an album title?

[Man with the Golden Arm]

  GA Russell said:

I bought a Bud Shank cd called This Bud's For You on 32 Jazz. Half its teeth were broken.

I bought a later day Chet Baker CD. It didn't have any teeth.

[BillF]

  Man with the Golden Arm said:

  GA Russell said:

I bought a Bud Shank cd called This Bud's For You on 32 Jazz. Half its teeth were broken.

I bought a later day Chet Baker CD. It didn't have any teeth.

[Jazzmoose]

This is wrong.

[JohnS]

And what about those thin double cd cases? In my experience one if not both of the cds doesn't release without a lot of bending and swearing.