Ditching jewel cases! Need binder sleeves to store everything.

May 15, 2006 8:50 AM

I want to store a few dozen CDs with their liner notes and inserts (we're talking the regular American style thick CD jewel cases). Most of the CD binders seem only able to store the booklet, not the tray inserts. I'd like one that can store everything except the plastic. I want to be able to stick them back into jewel cases if I ever decide to get rid of them.

I'm looking for sleeves that would work in a three ring binder, but if I have to, I'll purchase a whole binder if it stores the booklets and tray liners.

Yes, I searched the old posts on metafilter. Most discuss how to store a lot of CDs. I already know I want to use binders, since I have a lot of my burned discs stored that way.

I've also tried google, but only found sleeves that can hold linear notes, not the piece of paper under the tray.

posted by inthe80s to media & arts (9 comments total)

I just got these, and I love them.
posted by generic230 at 8:54 AM on May 15, 2006

those appear to only store the booklet though. I found lots of those, even regular cases at Walmart can handle that (just use the spot where you normally put a CD to put the booklet). The tray insert is larger than the booklet, so it can't be stored with it.
posted by inthe80s at 9:21 AM on May 15, 2006

Could you explain a little better why generic's solution is no good? Yes, the pictures with the cds displayed don't look to be doing what you want, but the picture on the top, with the dvds, looks like exactly what you're looking for.

The tray insert isn't bigger than a dvd box, is it? And the booklet could fit in the space for the second cd, right? How big are we talking here?
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 9:38 AM on May 15, 2006

The cost might be prohibitive, but you could buy these and then their binder conversion sleeves.

The CD tray inserts take up more space than a booklet, so you options are kind of limited (unless the insert is about the same size as a DVD booklet, then you might have something to work with.).
posted by Sangre Azul at 9:56 AM on May 15, 2006 [1 favorite]

If I might offer my own experience, I did something similar years ago. I took all of the liner notes and CDs out of their cases, then slid them both into the pockets of a CaseLogic folder (like this one, circa 1994). I left the tray inserts with the CD cases and placed all of the cases in a couple of bank-file boxes. The CDs went with me. The boxes went to live in my parents' attic.

The plan was that I would put them back in the cases later, either when I had that big living room of my dreams, the one with shelf after shelf of CD-storing capacity, or when I decided to sell/trade some of the less played.

Twelve years later, after doing the occasional resort and even buying another huge folder for more CDs, I have two big honking folders and even more CDs (purchased since then) still in their original cases. And those cases from before? Still collecting dust in that attic.

Basically, unless you have a sincere intention to purchase no more CDs beyond those you have, the folder option may prove folly.

Also, one final caveat ... I kept some of my CDs in a separate, smaller CD folder. My full Queen discography from Queen I to Innuendo, plus the post-humous albums, the two Mercury solos and about six hard-to-find bootlegs. About four years ago, that folder just disappeared. Grew two legs, so to speak.

So beware the new-found mobility of your music ...
posted by grabbingsand at 10:16 AM on May 15, 2006

This is just a small subset of my collection I plan on storing in this manner, so trying to "think outside of the box" isn't what I'm looking for here.

I know I want to ditch the plastic, and keep the paper. I don't want another box of old cases hanging around (I have around 200 empty cases as it is). I know that if I do the old "save two things in two different places" route, the cases with the paper in them will probably get lost or destroyed or something. I'm looking to save less than 100 CDs in this manner, so I'm not concerned with resorting, etc. It's infrequently used stuff.

I'm not worried about theft, since I live in a house and don't plan on travelling with it. It's also old stuff, that I almost would be better off losing than going through the pain of storing.
posted by inthe80s at 10:24 AM on May 15, 2006

It's not a binder but JewelSleeve is a individual vinyl CD sleeve that does exactly what you want. It stores the CD, the booklet and inlay card.

I have hundreds of JewelSleeves. My only caveat is that they tend to warp/buckle slightly over time (perhaps due to humidity?) and so your inlay cards will probably not remain 100% pristine gem mint 10.

Sangre Azul, thanks for the link to the DiscSox. That is another sleeve that does the same thing (except it appears to be side-loading and can hold 2 CDs).
posted by drew3d at 10:29 AM on May 15, 2006

thanks Sangre and Drew3d. those are both solutions I could use, even if I need to modify them slightly
posted by inthe80s at 12:29 PM on May 15, 2006

The main issue with sleeve-based solutions is how they scale. $0.50 per sleeve seems pretty reasonable until you find yourself buying sleeves for over a thousand discs.

When I shop for these sorts of things, I think long-term. I run the numbers assuming 5000 discs (cds, dvds, computer media, etc.) and see if the price still looks reasonable.
posted by kreinsch at 2:14 PM on May 16, 2006