Sleeves are Not Digipaks – A Buried Treasure PSA
I like to think I have a pretty good relationship with Repertoire Records. They don’t know it or anything — that is, I don’t talk to or otherwise have contact with anyone over there — but if I pick up a record and it’s a version on Repertoire, I can feel relatively safe that at very least, I’m going to get a quality product. That’s not something you can always say about people selling albums.
And I was taking it as a given about two weeks ago that when I put in my purchase through Amazon for the self-titled Fuzzy Duck album, which Repertoire released on CD in 2007, I’d be getting their usual digipak-type release. I prefer jewel cases to digipaks for the sturdiness, but with the acknowledgment that Fuzzy Duck isn’t exactly selling a million copies and that these things cost money to press, I’ll take what I can get. Certainly Repertoire reissues by Warhorse, Black Widow and others have been gorgeous in digipak form, and with cover art as classic as Fuzzy Duck‘s Fuzzy Duck, I decided I could do worse.
My order placed, I went about my business, and a couple nights ago, when I got in from work and found the package waiting for me, there was Fuzzy Duck — in a sleeve! Seriously? A sleeve? How can you claim to have any reverence for the product you’re selling and put it in a sleeve? I paid $15 bucks for that fucking thing, and looking back at the product page, it’s clearly marked as “Dig,” which I took to mean a legitimate digipak.
It’s not until I opened the package that I read further down the product info, where it says, “Original vinyl artwork in square CD digi-sleeve format (card wallet – no plastic) plus inserted fold-out poster.” Come on, man. “Digi-sleeve format?” “Card wallet?” 
You know you’re selling a sleeve, why not just come out and say it? If it’s that god damn embarrassing to you, make it a gatefold. I’ll pay for that. But $15 for a sleeve, man. That’s just sad.
These are dark enough times for those of us loyal to the CD format. I was out at that Premonition 13 show last night, and I asked the Mount Olympus drummer if they had any CDs for sale in addition to the vinyl, and he looked at me like I was from another planet. What could I ever want with such a thing? Every time someone tells me how outdated CDs are and how it’s a “dead format,” I want to laugh in their face for the same amount of times I heard people say that shit about LPs. Dead format? People are still making tapes! 78s are a dead format. Edison cylinders. I don’t care how convenient your download card is, I want a physical product I can play in my car, and that’s either a tape (which I buy, gladly, because they’re cheap as hell) or a CD.
I’m getting off track. The point is that with people maligning and proclaiming the death of the CD as a format anyway, it feels that much worse to buy Fuzzy Duck‘s Fuzzy Duck and essentially get screwed out of what I thought I was going to get with it. Of course the record rules — even the bonus tracks; “Double Dealing Woman” is super-Deep Purple — but after a while that’s not even the point. The point is I have a separate space on my shelf for sleeves, because they suck, and now I have to put this album there.
Because even with an eight-panel foldout liner and a sleeve within the sleeve (as you can see in the picture above), a sleeve is still a sleeve, and a sleeve is most definitely NOT a digipak.
Any other suckers out there who still buy physical media want to back me up on this, or should I just give up and go digital?
Tags: Fuzzy Duck, Repertoire Records
I just don’t feel like I own it unless it is in some sort of physical format, CD preferred.
Yeah, I completely agree. I have a bunch of sleeves that just sit in a weird spot on my shelving because (a.) there’s no text on the spine because there really ISN’T one, and (b.) they’re a waste of space.
I’m also slightly annoyed with CD-R releases. I realize that shit costs money to pay for, and bands aren’t, generally, rich, but CD-Rs have a horrible shelf life, and I’m paying top-dollar for it.
I’m not expecting to get everything inlaid with gold, but I want my money’s worth.
As someone who plays in a band that sells a lot of vinyl, I can safely say that CDs are not yet dead. We still sell just as many CDs as LPs at our shows.
And as far as the sleeve thing goes, it’s rad if it’s one of those “mini LP” things with the thick cardstock sleeve, but a promo style sleeve…fuck that.
Fuck digital
Good christ! CDs dead. Ridiculous, fatuous, media hipsterisms. Always opined by some dickhead who means to say “I’m soooo hip that I’m ahead of the curve.” Which translates as “I’m a stupid cock and I’m really worried about what other stupid cocks like me might think of me.”
I buy CDs and LPs and I download. Why do people always hafta claim something is ‘dead’?! Like rock, punk, metal etc. and ad nauseum.
Anyway, I have gripes with ALL the CD formats but I’m definitely jewel over digipak. What a stupid name. There aint’ nothin’ digital about plastic glued to cardboard. I too hate sleeve. My Horse re-issue came in a dumb oversized sleeve sold to me with glee as a replica/mini LP. Stupid and yeah, irritating to store. And what about the bloody retarded Serpent Venom packaging!?
But the worst, THE WORST is the barcode sticker. All the reeking evil the corporate world has to offer is put into the design of those bastards! I’d put a jihad on you North Americans in a Sydney minute for those barcode stickers! Eeeeevil!
But really I just want them all the same like me LPs. Either jewel or digipak: give me consistency or give dea… Oh, whatever. I’ll buy whatever it takes. They’ve got me over a barrel. I’m a music junkie and a physical-format fiend.
Love yer work…
PS.Here’s someone else’s gripes. I wholly endorse them.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/staff_top_10/top-10-things-i-hate-about-cds.htm
When the physical format is gone the entire aspect of the visual art form is gone from recorded music. Plus, as a t-shirt that I saw a guy wearing at the first Scionfest said,”You can’t roll a joint on a digital download.”
I’m waiting for when digital download cards come in cassette tape cases. That will be the ultimate in fidelity and packaging.
Repertoire rules…got a nice Budgie 2 disc set…
as for sleeves…damn you Jesu, Keelhaul, Harvey Milk!!! Filling the cracks above my cds on the shelf like spackle!
I got that Fuzzy Duck somewhere…jewel case I believe…
ha, sorry mount olympus didn’t have cds. i think the look was more for, we didn’t want to pay for them and we got a much better deal on records since the guy who runs our label works at a pressing plant. the is no money in playing in bands which is why the digital format works so well. thought i would rather have vinyl over a cd any day.
Just bougth this one today, perfect shape-second hand…hoped that the sleeve could fit on a jewel case, but no. The CD seems to have good quality. Anyway, amazing record!!!
(sorry for my english)
Me, I think the mini-LP/digisleeve/card sleeve style covers are great; they are miniature versions of the original card vinyl LPs, and the good ones have all of the booklets, artwork, etc.
I way prefer them to the jewel cases and digipak covers; in fact I only buy mini-LP style CDs; I have several hundred of them!