DVD Security Sticker Stickiness

January 1, 2006 8:18 PM

So, what's your technique for getting the security stickers off a new DVD package?

Not that I can't do it -- I can, usually with a kitchen knife -- but there's got to be a better way. I'm hoping you know some tricks, MetaFilter.

posted by .kobayashi. to Grab Bag (19 answers total)

Uhm, fingernails?
posted by gramcracker at 8:21 PM on January 1, 2006

I got one of these in my stocking last year. It's worked pretty well, I just slice and peel. It certainly beats using my hands.
posted by cyphill at 8:23 PM on January 1, 2006

Box cutter from the dollar store. Handy for many, many things.
posted by Gator at 8:24 PM on January 1, 2006

I got something similar to what cypill uses from the now defunct dvdexpress.com as a freebie when I was buying piles of DVDs from them with their preorder discount. Works great, especially on those annoying stickers Fred Meyers adds to their DVDs.
posted by Tenuki at 8:30 PM on January 1, 2006

Just peel it off? Why do you need a knife or any other tool?
posted by kindall at 8:36 PM on January 1, 2006

Find the little corner that says "Pull". Follow the instruction.
posted by Remy at 8:40 PM on January 1, 2006

The labels are usually perforated along one edge, are they not? Break the perforation, then peel as usual (the middle part, where the label is, isn't sticky). Of course, then you have the other half of the sticker to deal with conventionally. Come to think of it, how come those labels aren't just perforated right down the middle so you can use the white stuff on either side as a pull tab?
posted by chrominance at 8:47 PM on January 1, 2006

When I worked at Blockbuster Music, everyone there removed the security stickers by scraping the side against the corner of a table or desk. Apply moderate pressure with a quick, downward motion. Usually comes off in one swipe, and is far more impressive than fiddling about with peeling...
posted by logicpunk at 8:49 PM on January 1, 2006

Isn't he talking about the RFID stickers? Just peel those using a plastic scrapper, the kind used to scrape Teflon coated pans.
posted by riffola at 8:50 PM on January 1, 2006

Box cutter from the dollar store. Handy for many, many things.

These really work much better than a kitchen knife for almost everything except cutting food. I use mine for all kinds of stuff now that I have one. Including removing DVD stickers.
posted by smackfu at 9:14 PM on January 1, 2006

Logicpunk is talking about CDs, whose jewel cases are ridged for this purpose. This thread is about DVDs.
posted by cribcage at 10:21 PM on January 1, 2006

Logicpunk is talking about CDs...

Oops... yeah, I was thinking jewel cases.

I did test it on Xmas DVDs, and it's not quite as effective...

Still preferable to peeling, tho.
posted by logicpunk at 10:38 PM on January 1, 2006

Lighter fluid is the miracle liquid to dissolve glue.
posted by interrobang at 11:33 PM on January 1, 2006

'cause logicpunk started the CD sidetrack ...

With CDs, I just pry the bottom hinge of the CD case open and then flip the whole face of the CD case up, using the plastic sticky label across the top edge as a hinge. Then, once the case is completely open and disassembled (except for the label, holding the face and the body of the case together), I pull the two main pieces apart from each other. The sticker stays on one of them, and I then pull it off.

But I'll try that table scraping thing.
posted by Alt F4 at 2:54 AM on January 2, 2006

There are at least three separate discussions going here. The original question was about removing "security stickers" from DVDs. Maybe that is RFID tags, or maybe it's the imprinted tape that they put over the edges of the box. I think it's the tape, and I would like a good way of doing that, too. I mean taking the damn things off entirely, not just cutting them so the box will open.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:21 AM on January 2, 2006

I'll repeat, since there seems to be confusion: The table-scraping trick is for removing cellophane from CDs, not the plastic seals from DVDs. CD jewel cases are ridged for exactly this purpose: Stand the bottom against a sharp edge on a table or counter, apply pressure, and scrape. The friction will rip the cellophane. That's why the ridges are there.

DVD cases aren't ridged.

And although some CDs have these tape "seals" across the top (bearing the names of artist and album), this trick isn't intended to remove them. It may rip them, but you still have to pull the tape off each side without leaving residue. It wasn't intended for this; jewel cases were designed before manufacturers began using these tape seals.
posted by cribcage at 7:56 AM on January 2, 2006

For the sensor tag sticker, simply peel/pull it off. For the stickers that go across the top, side, and or bottom, one can simply be patient and peel it off from the side with one's hands. Or, a quicker, dirtier way is to take a pocketknife (or other cutting instrument) and slice right down the middle using the crease of the case's two sides as your guide. Then peel them off using the newly offered edges.
posted by Atreides at 8:12 AM on January 2, 2006

Response by poster: Kirth Gerson's right: I did mean the imprinted tape. Like I said, it's not that I can't get it to come off, it's just that (and I'm sure I'm not alone in this), it isn't always easy, it isn't often quick, and I ocassionally leave goo or little bits of sticker behind.

I know that it can be done with a knife or fingers. But I was curious to see if anyone knows techniques that are faster or easier, like the one logicpunk describes for CDs. (For CDs, what I do is unhook the cover of the jewelbox, and basically fold off the sticker. That works very well.)
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:39 AM on January 2, 2006

No advice on a quicker technique, but my DVD-obsessed partner swears by eucalyptus oil to remove the gooey residue left behind from stickers of all kinds on his DVD cases.
posted by andraste at 7:33 PM on January 2, 2006