source of weird eBay BN images...

[Rooster_Ties]

Where is this guy getting these images from??

They're all CD's (or so they're listed that way, on eBay), but damn near every image he's attached to these auctions looks like a version of each BN cover that I'm sure most of us are not familiar with.

What's the deal?? Even if he is selling CD's, what's the original of these BN covers with the non-square aspect ratios???

Here's the guy's auctions: dalpup

And here's some examples, at random...

By the way (Chuck), I'm not asking as a collector (I could give a shit about owning a particular issue of the music -- just gimme the music in any old format, just something I can listen to it with would be fine!!), but rather simply as someone who's curious about the origin of these images - which appear NOT to be CD's.

Here's the guy's auctions: dalpup

Edited October 30, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[jacknife]

I saw these and took it that they were packaged in those long box deals that I somewhat remember from years back.

[Rooster_Ties]

And this one sure looks different than what I know of as "The Best of Lee Morgan - The Blue Note Years"...

<-- vs. -->

[JSngry]

Long Boxes they are.

Geesh, I feel old sometimes because I remember vinyl so well. But when somebody doesn't know what a LONG BOX is, I REALLY feel old!!!!

HELP I'M A ROCK!

[Rooster_Ties]

Oh, I assure you - I recognize long-boxes quite well.

I was a senior in highschool in 1987 - so I bought my fair share of CD's packaged in both long-boxes, and their "even worse" cousin, the "blisterpack"!!!

But I didn't recognize these as being them - at least not until now.

[Ed S]

I'm feelin kind of old too as I instantly recognized them as longboxes. I started my BN collection out in the late 80s as well with a ton of these - as cutouts. Still have 'em too.

[Rooster_Ties]

I wasn't buyin' Blue Note (or any jazz, for that matter) back when I was in high-school. I think Longboxes were nearly gone by the time I got bitten by the jazz bug.

[jacknife]

"blisterpack"!!!

Ok, now I don't feel quite as old. What the heck is a blisterpack?

[Rooster_Ties]

http://www.collectorshelp.com/popups/blister.htm

Blister Pack

Also Known As: Snap Pack

A Blister Pack is s stiff plastic moulding surrounding the case of a CD. The term is borrowed from the marketers who originally made the packaging.

Blister Packs were mainly used on 3" CDs so that they could be hung on shop displays. 3" CDs with the original Blister Packs have a slightly higher values than those without; however there is no accurate record as to which releases had this packaging and which did not.

Now this image is of a 3" CD single in a 'blister pack' type plastic package. Back in the days of longboxes (which were cardboard), there were also quite a few CD's that were in these sealed plastic things that were the same size as a longbox, and usually had a piece of very thin cardboard inside of them with graphics custom designed for each CD (usually similar to the cover of the CD booklet).

These plastic 'blister packs' were usually made of VERY heavy plastic, and were sealed in such a way that you almost had to have a pocket-knife to cut the open. A regular pair of scissors would usually work, but not very easily - to get the buggers open.

Worst invention ever, along with cardboard longboxes, and disposable DVD's that 'expire' (cease to function) after 48 hours.

Here's a better picture of a 'blister pack' for a full-size CD...

PS: Most disposable batteries (at least in the U.S.) are sold in 'blister packs' - except with batteries, frequently the backside of the packaging is cardboard. In the case of 'blister packs' for compact discs, both sides of the package are plastic (and usually pretty darn heavy plastic at that), which were a bitch to get into. [/soapbox]

Edited October 31, 2003 by Rooster_Ties

[Ed S]

Those blisterpacks were wicked. The plastic was so heavy that unless you totally deconstructed the packaging before attempting to remove the CD, you risked lacerations from the shorp edges of the plastic OUCH.

Edited October 31, 2003 by Ed Swinnich

[Rooster_Ties]

Those blisterpacks were wicked.  The plastic was so heavy that unless you totally deconstructed the packaging before attempting to remove the CD, you risked lacerations from the shorp edges of the plastic  OUCH. 

No shit. Many a time I'd buy a CD back then, and get out to the car and want to rip it open to read the linernotes (no car CD player back then). And man - I'm sure I drew blood on several occasions.

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sidewinder]

Nice to be reminded of those longboxes ! The first stack of those I saw (eyes popping out of head) was in 1989 and included 'Black Fire', 'Point of Departure' and 'No Room for Squares'. I thought Xmas had come early that day. Seem to recall one heck of a wrestle getting them out of the box though..

[JohnS]

These illustrations remind me of some cassettes of BN material I used to have, purchased in the United Arab Emirates. The inserts were very similar to those pictured above. No notes or personnel, just a track listing. Presumably the material was released unofficially.

Edited November 1, 2003 by JohnS

[Alexander]

I, too, remember the long-box, and recognized these as such. They were such stupid, wasteful things. I was very glad when the industry stopped using them.

When I was in college, if a long-box had nice cover art, I would cut it out and use it as a wall decoration. I remember hanging the long-box cover of "Bone Machine" by Tom Waits on my apartment wall. I can't remember if I eventually threw those away or not. They may be lying around in a box in the basement!

[JSngry]

I kepr, and still have, the longboxes for albums that had specific artwork on them. It was a part of the album's overall packaging in a really obtruse way. But too often they were just generic label blurbettes. Toss.

Weren't the long box and blister pack (truly as close to Satanic as any product has ever been ) born out of the need for retailers to keep their LP shelves?

[Alexander]

Weren't the long box and blister pack (truly as close to Satanic as any product has ever been ) born out of the need for retailers to keep their LP shelves?

Exactly. LP shelves were too deep for CDs. I guess retailers were unsure of how long CDs would last (I'm sure a lot of store owners got burned by 8-track in one way or another), and they didn't want to convert to CD-friendly shelving until they were sure they would be around awhile.

[JSngry]

You're old, dude...

[Aftab]

I was working at a cd shop when the long box/cd shlef conversion took place - wow that took a long time to open all those boxes - of course, then we put them in the plastic, locking keepers for security reasons, and even those were hard to open with the supplied key.

I had to ask dalpup if these were longboxes, and he said they were.

I wonder where he got them all?

[BruceH]

Just about everybody hated longboxes, they were awkward, ugly, and wasteful, so it only took the industry about 8 or 9 years to get rid of 'em! And blisterpacks seemed to be specifically designed to piss off the buyer. Now if they could just ditch those stupid, annoying, clumsy, unnecessary security stick-strips that are on the top of most CD's (and sometimes on the sides as well)! Whoever designed those should hung by his thumbs.

[AfricaBrass]

I worked in a record store in the '80s. The biggest problem that I had with longboxes (other than the fact that they're wasteful) was that people would slit on the bottom of the boxes with razorblades and swipe the cd. We had security stickers on the longboxes themselves, but once they got the sweet contents out of the longbox, the shoplifters were home free.