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Replace CD jewel boxes with archival sleeves?

Hi, folks:

I would like to reduce the volume and weight of my large CD collection by getting rid of the jewel cases. I still play CDs on my main system and want them to be easily accessible. The primary options seem to be paper or plastic sleeves that can be used stand-alone or in a 3-ring binder. I could also use the thin jewel cases, but they would still be heavy and would not show the side content flap on the side of the CD.

I've researched various products. Here are a few products I found:

Univenture polypropelyne jewel pack
http://homepage.mac.com/amurnieks/acmin ... eeves.html

Univenture archival sleeve
http://www.planetdj.com/i--10196

Tyvek window sleeve with flap
http://www.buskerdoo.com/catalog/tyvek- ... ap-33.html
http://www.cddimensions.com/Tyvek-CD-Sl ... YV-WINDOW/

Viewpack XD 2 pocket polypropylene sleeve
http://www.sleevetown.com/multi-disc-cd-sleeves.shtml
http://www.univenture.com/shop/viewpak_ ... sleeve.php

CD binders and sleeves
http://www.sleevetown.com/cd-binders.shtml

- If I use sleeves, one concern is what material to use? They are made in vinyl, polypropelyne, and paper. Buskerdoo recommends paper sleeves for long-term archival, saying that CDs can stick to plastic over time. My experience is that polypropelyne would be better (and less smelly) than vinyl. Not sure if it is better than paper.
http://www.buskerdoo.com/html/articles/ ... g_CDs.html

- If I use sleeves, I would prefer a dual sleeve - one that holds both the CD and the paper insert (CD cover sheet). I suppose I could use single CD sleeves and tape the cover sheets to the sleeves.

What have others done? Recommendations?

Cheers,

Fred
fred971
11 responses Add your response
bigbucks5
184 posts
 
Ok, here's what you do...

1) Remove the cover sheets and place in album sleeves w/o CD, order unimportant but sleeves must be numbered.

2) Buy a Sony 400 CD carousel changer (used. cheap on e-bay, as many as you need) and place CDs in the numbered slots according to the numbered sleeves.

3) Type up a list of your CDs by number, title and artist as a Word table which can easily be sorted by each of the 3 columns. Place printouts in CD sleeve album.

You can now find any CD quickly and retrieve from the carousel to play on your CD player.
gsm18439
895 posts
 
Check out http://jewelsleeve.com/

However, you should just first the starter kit to determine whether the jewelsleeves fit in your storage. While much thinner and lighter, they are also significantly taller and wider.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
ncarv
983 posts
 
My plan is to get rid of my CD's, get a Mac Mini, load all my CD's on it, and run the Mac through my DAC.
gsm18439
895 posts
 
My one year old iMAC died. Hard drive and RAM - kaput. Backup is essential.
donaudio
129 posts
 
I use the Viewpak sleeves for all my CDs and found Aluminum tool cases at either Home Depot or Costco for about $15. I made dividers for the toolkit and each one can store about 300 CDs. Don
scotthobby
60 posts
 
Jazzloft sells 200 of these for $36. You can insert the cd, booklet, AND the back tray page in one of these.
scotthobby
60 posts
 
I meant to include this link to the previous note.
http://www.jazzloft.com/p-34281-space-saving-cd-sleeves.aspx
fred971 OP
2 posts
 
Hey, folks, thanks for your comments. Is there any formal or empirical research on the various kinds of sleeves: paper, vinyl, polyethylene, polyurethane? Any experience after using them for 10 years or so? My highest priority is to preserve the CDs.

Thanks,

Fred
kkm
124 posts
 
I use this and saved a ton of space. I don't really look at the booklets so that is stored elsewhere. It can hang about 1000 double sided. The front is plastic which from experience with the album sleeves could react with the ink on the top of the CD but shouldn't affect the reading side.
I got it on sale one time for $40 delivered:

http://www.meritline.com/1000-cd-dvd-storage-wallet-case---p-22028.aspx
grateful's avatar
grateful
104 posts
 
I use the Discgear Selector 100 (you can google it), I have many, many of them to hold my collection of 4000 discs. I found the Discgear to be the best option out there for several reasons;

1 - Does not "outgass" noxious and destructive chemicals, which can degrade the CD poly over time.

2 - Holds CD in a way which is upright, stress and contact free; which prevents warpage and surface damage.

3 - the obvious space saving.

4 - the super easy "indexing" CD finding and extracting system, which is playing suface contact free.

Again, I looked at multitudes of other CD holders, boxes, sleeves, storage, etc devices out there; played with them, tested them, spoke to the companies, and so forth -- and the Discgear Selector is what I found to be the best protection for my $80,000.00+ investment/collection.

And, No, I do not have any relations with Discgear -- I'm just very happy with their product. That's my 2 cent.

Oh, if you do decide to go with this system, or any other for that matter, its best to type yourself a catalogue/index of whats is where. I have numbered all of my Discgear Selectors and print a catalogue of each CD to it's location.

best luck
fred971 OP
2 posts
 
Folks, as the originator of this thread, here is the solution I went with to replace my CD jewel boxes. After a lot of research and obtaining product samples, I went with Jazzloft CD sleeves. http://www.jazzloft.com . The CDs can be inserted with the data side against the CD's paper insert, or against the plastic sleeve. I discussed it with them and they say that placing the data side against the paper insert will not harm the CD, so I am doing that. An advantage of these sleeves is that the CD paper insert side title (the title strip that shows on the edge of the jewell box) wraps around inside the sleeve. If you stack CDs loosely together, this title is still somewhat visible, making it easier to identify your CDs.

Another good product is the Univenture CD sleeve (they have several styles). http://www.univenture.com . The Univenture sleeves have an orange peel surface. I prefer the smooth Jazzloft surface - less reflection for me.

One disadvantage with plastic sleeves is that they are a little slippery, so you can't stack CDs vertically more than about 4" - like you might do if you grab a handful of CDs and place them on a table to look through. But that's a small price to pay for eliminating jewell boxes.

To replace DVD jewel boxes, I went with Discsox sleeves. http://www.discsox.com or http://www.mmdesign.com . These sleeves hold all of the paper inserts without cutting or folding. They have Bluray versions, too.

Cheers,

Fred
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