Digipak vs Jewell Case

A songwriter friend of mine said that he preferred Jewel Case over Digipak. His reasons was that digipak was more fragile. It could be damaged easier. If  a jewel case breaks you can replace it for cheap.

I felt that his reasons made good practical sense. But for me there is no contest. I prefer digipak. Yes it is more fragile, but it comes closer to what vinyl albums used to be like. They are more beautiful to look at and and there are more possibilities for different types of packaging than with the jewel case. Also the fact that it is more fragile means that you have to take better care of them (Which is what you had to do with records). It makes you value them more.

Sadly, from the indie artist standpoint of things, it is also too expensive for me to use. All of my CDs have been released in the Jewell case format. I can't afford the digipak format yet......but maybe someday..........

The Value of Records

Over at the New Music Strategies blog page there is an excellent post regarding the value of record albums vs the value of digital files . I hope they don't mind me borrowing their picture, but it was to perfect for this post.  

I've been saying for years now, that when the industry switched to the CD, they should never have lost the packaging that came with records.

All that big artwork, gatefold covers, lyrics sheets, booklets, posters, etc.

You can't download that stuff.

It would have been so easy to just put the CD in a Mylar sleeve and include it with the record album packaging.

Notice how DVDs are packaged? There are often times various versions. Some with collectible items included.

Years ago, I thought to myself.....If I was big famous music star, I could afford to do just that. Release my CD w' record album packaging. I'd make sure it had a gatefold cover with cool artwork, and a lyrics booklet with even more artwork.

I really do believe that it would have sold big time. But I am not a huge famous music star so I can't afford to do that, and I don't have the fame needed to get any press coverage for doing it. I don't even know if I can afford to make CDs any more and may have to go digital only.
 
But I do believe the music industry would be in a different place right now if they had ditched the Jewell box and kept the album packaging.