I guess part of me wants to look at the whole package as part of the art. Jewel cases are cheaper and easier to deal with, so I guess I should be ok with that.

Just thought I’d chime in on the packaging discussion from the record store and radio play side of the fence. Nearly everyone I’ve talked with in both camps has said that the standard size plastic jewel case is their preferred packaging. From a design standpoint I know the limitations, but from a sales & quality standpoint I tend to agree with them. They’re consistently easy to see on the shelf and hold up much better over time than the digipacks and other cardboard packages (durability when taking discs on the road, in bags, etc. is another story of course).

I was recently involved in the release of two CDs and I was actually on the design side of the fence with the packaging issue. I lobbied hard for digipacks and beautiful packaging design, but when I looked hard at the use of physical discs these days in stores and on radio/podcast shelves I had to agree with the jewel cases.

It’s a strange time for the music industry. I think people will always demand physical product of some kind for the music they collect, but as a consumer of music today I rarely (if ever) need a CD for the music I regularly listen to. Buy it, burn it, store it (the MP3) on your iPod, then store it (the CD) in a box on a shelf in the garage…