That CD longbox thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by nashreed, May 3, 2003.

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  1. KeithH

    KeithH Success With Honor...then and now

    Location:
    Beaver Stadium
    Claus said:

    Actually, I'm glad Sony switched to slipcases. My problem with the longboxes is that the booklets are adhered to them. The longbox for my Boston Boston MasterSound disc doesn't fit on my CD shelf, so the jewel case sits there with no booklet. :( On the plus side, I pick up the jewel case and see the cool gold picture disc right away. :)
     
  2. joelee

    joelee Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Houston
  3. Craig

    Craig (unspecified) Staff

    Location:
    North of Seattle
    What joelee said! :thumbsup:
     
  4. DeeThomaz

    DeeThomaz Senior Member

    Location:
    In The Felony Room
    For any longbox fans in New Orleans, when visiting the city last week, I was taken aback to find a store that stocked a TON of them. I sadly don't remember the name of the shop (and I wonder how many of these titles are ones that anyone would ever actually care to purchase), but it was located on Canal Street, near the Bourbon St intersection....

    Sorry I can't be of more help. But for a GREAT collector's oriented shop (with LOTS of gold discs), In New Orleans, I can recommend Magic Bus Records. After stumbling on it, I certainly had to commit the name to memory.
     
  5. bldg blok

    bldg blok Forum Resident

    Location:
    Elmira, NY
    I take comfort in the fact that there are others who saw some value in keeping the long boxes. I remember seeing a segment on MTV in the late 80s where buyers were complaining about them, throwing them in the trash after leaving the store w/ their purchase. Not me, I've got two boxes full of ones I've saved, including several MFSL UDCDs and the original Beatle issues. They may never have value in the marketplace, but I'll keep mine.
     
  6. Shakey

    Shakey New Member

    Location:
    Chicago, Illinois
    What he said.
     
  7. Rspaight

    Rspaight New Member

    Location:
    Kentucky
    I wasn't a big fan of the Mastersound longboxes either -- though they looked nice and I liked the big artwork, they were a pain to store. Fortunately, at one point right after they stopped using that package, Sony (via ICE) offered a limited number of surplus free jewel-case booklets to those who bought the original longbox issues. So I got both!

    I still have the longboxes for Born To Run, Toys In The Attic, Kind Of Blue, Blonde On Blonde and Wish You Were Here stashed away, though I sold the actual discs of KOB and BOB after the SACDs came out...

    Ryan
     
  8. dwmann

    dwmann Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Houston TX
    I carefully over a thousand longboxes for years, until I realized how much room I was wasting and threw them all in the trash. Now some guy sells longboxes on ebay, buy I don't miss mine at all.
     
  9. -Ben

    -Ben Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington DC Area
    I remember.
    I was one of those who wrote to Sony complaining about the longboxes and got the replacement booklets.
    Amy Herot (who worked at Sony at the Time) wrote back saying the longbox idea was being re-visited.

    BC
     
  10. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    CT
    I wrote to them and never got a response. i was so mad I sold my Toys In The Attic and bought the remaster. I hated storing that big box.
     
  11. SteveSDCA

    SteveSDCA Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego
    My Dad's company was one of the company's that made the plastic wrap that was used for the Beatles' (among other artists) CD long boxes in the late 80's. I don't think he was the only company that was contracted by the packaging company but that was cool when he told me that. :)
     
  12. Rspaight

    Rspaight New Member

    Location:
    Kentucky
    And, of course, when the Sgt. Pepper longbox went away, so did the cut-outs...

    Ryan
     
  13. TSmithPage

    TSmithPage Ex Post Facto Member

    Location:
    Lexington, KY
    Speaking of longboxes, I am reminded of the time shortly after many of the record stores switched from long boxes to regular CD storage. I went into a Musicland in Cincinnati to find that some presumably well meaning clerk had removed ALL the CDs from their boxes. In other words, the CBS Mastersound series, in which much of the packaging was contained in the long box, had been removed and these bare wrapped in only plastic CDs without covers were sitting on the shelves with $30 price tags! I think they also did it with the box sets they had in stock! I can't imagine these pricey items sold after being cannibalized and also doubt they were returnable since half the packaging had been trashed!
     
  14. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    This just goes to prove that what becomes valuable and collectible is never anything sold as a "valuable collectible" with a "certificate of authenticity." It's always something so prevalent it's considered disposable.

    The longbox did have one function that took a while to replace. CDs didn't have bin labels across the top, and for a year or so after ditching the longbox, browsing was a laborious, look-at-every-disc process. It took awhile for the record companies to start using those stickers across the top of the jewel box.

    Incidentally, the red and yellow diamond sticker on the Eddie Murphy longbox means that the CD inside is already shrinkwrapped.
     
  15. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Management Conundrum #1: The only thing worse than employees who won't do what you tell them are employees who do exactly what you tell them, i.e., "Take the CDs out of the longboxes."
     
  16. cds4dad

    cds4dad Senior Member

    Location:
    NJ
    Wow, after all these years I finally found out what that sticker means. Thanks Ron - I've learned my trivia for the day.
     
  17. teaser5

    teaser5 Cool Rockin' Daddy

    Location:
    The DMV
    Longboxes

    I can't believe I missed this thread.
    I have about a hundred and fifty but mine are all sealed. It's a stupid hobby but I have gone this far. Most of mine are MFSL, DCC and Mastersound. I'll post a picture if anyone is interested. I have all the MOFI gold LB titles except one. Lot's of aluminums too. They don't display well at all. In fact some of the MOFI's don't even have the name on the spine.
    Still, it's something I started a while back and I have a lot of money tied up in them so there they sit

    Cheers!
    Norm
     
  18. nashreed

    nashreed New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    Cool Norm!

    That's what I'm talkin' about!
    Pictures would be sweet!!!

    Thanks!
    James
     
  19. bartels76

    bartels76 Forum Hall Of Fame

    Location:
    CT
    I always hated the Polygram plastic longboxes. They were so chinsy. Does anyone know why longboxes were decided on. We didn't really have cassette long boxes so why did we need CD long boxes. Didn't someone invent the CD shuck/security holder in the 80's. Why wasn't that used instead?
     
  20. Dave

    Dave Esoteric Audio Research Specialist™

    Location:
    B.C.
    Actually there were cassette long-boxes. I used to have about 20 of them from the late 70's/early 80's.
     
  21. Rspaight

    Rspaight New Member

    Location:
    Kentucky
    CD longboxes existed so that retailers could use the existing LP racks to hold CDs -- two CD longboxes side by side (10" x 12", roughly) more or less fit in the same space as an LP (12" x 12"). Once LPs were dead in the mainstream record stores, there was no reason to continue to maintain the 12" x 12" display standard. The stores threw a mighty fit, though, when the longboxes were killed (due to environmentalist pressures), because they either had to buy a bunch of plastic keepers to continue to use the LP racks, or buy all new store fixtures.

    The keepers/security holders weren't really used before that because the store had to buy them -- the longboxes were free from the store's perspective.

    Ryan
     
  22. nashreed

    nashreed New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Tulsa, OK
    As I understand it, longboxes were conceived as a favor to retail to make the transition from vinyl easier- longboxes being the same height as a vinyl lp- so they wouldn't have to get new bins immediately.

    I was kinda hoping there would be more longbox-heads on the board. A lot of you really hate them :confused: ! What gets me is collector types who are into so anal that they keep the little cellophane sticker announcing the hit songs from the CD tucked inside the booklet or something- yet they have no problem chucking all of their longboxes. To me, longboxes are a part of the package- period. If you threw away the longbox- then you devauled that CD, and lost some of the packaging. Of course, I feel that way NOW- after I did the same thing and foolishly threw away most of mine. I wish I could go back in time and re-buy all those (and more!). Were longboxes still in use, I would gladly keep all of them intact and display them with the jewel cases inside. At least I still have 36 of them, and I do keep the CD's inside. Sure, it takes up a lot of room, but so does vinyl- and nobody complains about that!

    James
     
  23. Mike

    Mike New Member

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Here's another one for you James. I picked the back cover on this one:. Southgang was Butch Walker's first band signed to a major label.

    [​IMG]
     
  24. -=Rudy=-

    -=Rudy=- ♪♫♪♫♫♪♪♫♪♪ Staff

    Location:
    US
    IMHO, that was one of Columbia's dumbest moves. I want a jewel case with ALL the artwork...not a stupid longbox case that fits none of the shelving I own. After I bought Brubeck's TIME OUT album and realized the packaging was inspired by idiots, I vowed to never buy another until they learned how to package them properly. :mad:

    I have maybe 50-100 longboxes somewhere. I'd wanted to make a collage out of them, but if they are worth something, heck, might as well get myself a new "toy" or some CDs with it. :)
     
  25. Roland Stone

    Roland Stone Offending Member

    Before the longbox and jewel box became industry standards, some CDs were packaged in sort of a half-LP folder configuration, with the CD tucked inside a slot. Hard to describe, but imagine a gatefold LP cut in half vertically, and keeping the spine side. I believe mine (which I converted to jewel box configuration with a ruler and razor) were Warners Brothers titles.
     
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