Shrink wrap on new CDs

[Mark Thomas]

Who knew that there was such a well of misery out there, just waiting for Delicious Manager to uncover?

Maybe I should start up www.shrinkwrappedcds.com?

p.s. My bugbear isn't the tear-strip or the wrapping - I use a knife (or my nails if I'm desperate) running down the gap between the front and the spine. No, it's those pesky slivers of shrink wrap, left behind after the wrapping has been ripped off, charged with static electricity and invisibly clinging to the floor, the furniture, my clothes, me etc. for weeks afterwards.

[thalbergmad]

This is beginning to resemble an episode of Grumpy Old Men.

Thal

[Peter1953]

Is this really an issue?

Something else is that I receive too often a new CD, and after removing the wrapper the box partly falls into pieces, especially the middle part where the disc is stucked. For that reason I’m never short in empty boxes.
Another thing is that it happens that I order a new CD, and receive it without a wrapper, as if it’s already been used. The last example is the Kennedy disc with Mlynarski (jpc). In fact I don’t care, but find the booklet with finger prints on it. I pay for a new copy. I know, I should have complained, but I didn’t…

[Alan Howe]

The most pesky things to replace are those special plastic boxes used for some SACDs. It's maddening if one of those arrives in pieces...

[jimmosk]

This looks like a good place to ask a question I've been unable to find the answer to: what's the actual name for the strips of tape-with-album-name-written-on-them that many shrinkwrapped CDs also have, along their top edges?  I've wanted to do a google search to find out more about them (such as who came up with them, so that I can add them to my circle of infamy along with the inventor of car alarms). But I've been stumped as far as uncovering the actual term to call them!

--
Jim Moskowitz
The Unknown Composers Page: http://kith.org/jimmosk/TOC.html
My latest list of unusual classical CDs for auction: http://tinyurl.com/jimmosk

[JimL]

I don't know what they're called, but I suspect they're there as an additional safeguard against snatching the CD and leaving the empty case to be sold.  I suppose that they're useful only if there is in-house pilfering at the shipping and/or distribution level.

[febnyc]

Jim - Agree about those "index strips" which are stuck across the tops of new CDs.  Happily, I notice fewer and fewer of them - DGG/Philips/London were the real culprits.

For those who struggle with the shrink wrap in general, there is a little gizmo which slides across the edge of the jewel case, and contains a small blade which slices the plastic for easy removal.  Here's something close to what I use:  http://www.topmic.com/250-0845.html

Or: http://tinyurl.com/2demsrw

[mbhaub]

Ahh, yes those silly silver sticky labels on American CDs (I do import a few). What a fine idea THAT was.

mbhaub: I would have to mostly agree with you about Neeme Järvi (Järvi means 'lake' in Estonian, you know). Even some of the Russian repertoire is a little suspect. His two Chandos CDs dedicated to Estonian symphonic music are wonderful - as are some of his Rimsky-Korsakov recordings. There are even Franz Schmidt's 2nd and 3rd Symphonies which I quite enjoy.

I wonder what he's like live (never seen him live)?

This no doubt is the wrong thread, but I have seen Jarvi live. Several years ago I went to America's Third World City, Detroit, to hear him do the Schmidt 4th. It was typical of Jarvi: no-nonsense, quickly paced, never quite pumbling the deepest parts of the score. The Beethoven Eroica was unlike any performance I'd ever heard. It was highly dramatic, a flowed marvelously. The finale was the stunner: it was actually amusing, and you could hear the audience chuckle from time to time at the way he did it. His style is quite reserved and undemonstrative and he conducted from memory. He also left the hall, into his limo, and left as fast as possible. Of course, given the location of the fine concert hall, I can't blame him.

[giles.enders]

The shrink wrap is no problem, I use a small electrical screwdriver which I slide along the top.  It is getting the booklet out that I have the problem with. I usually put them back the wrong way round so that the spine is at the edge causing it to slide more easily over the bumps.

[Alan Howe]

Nearly lost it opening the new Angelich/P. Järvi CD of Brahms PC2 this morning! Eventually turned to a small screwdriver to slit the sellophane open - very satisfying! The performance is a stunner, by the way. Grand, yet fiery, lyrical yet never self-indulgent. Marvellously recorded too. An instant classic - when I finally got to it!

[sdtom]

Years ago I invested in a package of single edge razor blades. Works for the CD's that also have the attached label on the top as the edge slides underneath that also. You can also use it for seemingly impossible to pull apart sealed bags of food etc. Just be careful to slide away from you.
Thomas