Shrink wrap on new CDs

[Delicious Manager]

I hope this will count as a viable topic for the 'New Recordings' section. I have just received my latest issue of the BBC Music Magazine with a cover CD of Mahler's 7th Symphony conducted by Gianandrea Noseda - a conductor I have a lot of time for. As always with these (and many other) CDs, it is wrapped in this seemingly impenetrable shrink wrap and NO TEAR STRIP to get its removal underway.

I know that I need to get a life, but this drives me to distraction. Is this just me, or does it annoy others as well? Most new CDs are thus wrapped. I have never quite worked out what the shrink wrap is for - CDs don't 'go off' if not vacuum wrapped or refrigerated as far as I know. And the shrink wrap is no guarantee of newness as machines to apply this appalling stuff are easy to come by.

Apart from buy a special gizmo to remove this stuff (why should I??), do other contributors have any tips to help me retain my sanity?

[Mark Thomas]

Go and make a nice cup of tea.

I think the idea is to make it more difficult to open the jewel box in a shop and steal the CD itself, because a CD-less jewel box isn't obvious as long as the booklet/insert is still there. But so few CDs are sold in shops these days that it seems a redundant idea.

[Delicious Manager]

Thank you, Mark. I had a nice cup of coffee to calm myself down (strange as it may seem). I know I shouldn't let such little trifles get to me, but they do. I have now 'broken in' to the Mahler CD and found myself disappointed. The performance lacks forward momentum or any sense of urgency - which this symphony needs, I think.

Anyway, thanks for allowing my little rant!

[Kriton]

I have now 'broken in- to the Mahler CD and found myself disappointed.

Couldn't this specific shrink wrap be there to protect you from a bad performance?

[albion]

I have a paring knife which is used exclusively for this purpose. It is literally a lethal weapon: trying to insert the razor-sharp end of the blade into any available part of the skin-tight wrapping without damaging the CD case or (worse) cardboard box-set, is liable to result in the loss of digits or, at the least, blood on the carpet.

I'm not sure why the shrinkwrap is there either, but somehow it makes me feel a nanosecond's worth of pleasure to 'unwrap' a new purchase (I suppose it's childhood Christmas syndrome).

[mbhaub]

My BBC Magazine cds come in a very, very easy to open plastic sleeve. Just pick it off the cover of the magazine, tear the glue off and it's done. Takes up very little shelf space. I wish more cds were packed that way.

Shrink wrap presents no problem for me: I use a a box cutter. The sharp blade easily demolishes the stuff and unwrapping is easy. What's no so easy is the stupid sticky label that too many American companies still put on the top of the disk. That's a mess! Rarely does it come off in one piece and you have a bunch of sticky bits all over. But things could be worse: I recall that in the early days of cds they were packaged in large, elongated industrial strength plastic containers that defied scissors for opening. A box cutter was even risky, as a slip could bring bodily harm.

I'm disappointed to read the review of the Mahler. I haven't received my copy yet. If it's forward momentum you want, try the new Jarvi on Chandos which is too fast, too impatient, too driven. It's ridiculous. Once again proving something about Jarvi I've known for a long time: he may be good at the Russian nationalists, but when it comes to the mainstream Austro/German repertoire he's out of his league. His earlier Mahler 6th and 8th are dreadful, his Brahms set is one of the worst, his Bruckner is weak...at least the sons are pretty good Beethoven conductors.

[Kriton]

What's no so easy is the stupid sticky label that too many American companies still put on the top of the disk. That's a mess!

The Italians do it as well, they're just as bad!

[Delicious Manager]

Ahh, yes those silly silver sticky labels on American CDs (I do import a few). What a fine idea THAT was.

mbhaub: I would have to mostly agree with you about Neeme Järvi (Järvi means 'lake' in Estonian, you know). Even some of the Russian repertoire is a little suspect. His two Chandos CDs dedicated to Estonian symphonic music are wonderful - as are some of his Rimsky-Korsakov recordings. There are even Franz Schmidt's 2nd and 3rd Symphonies which I quite enjoy.

I wonder what he's like live (never seen him live)?

[Kriton]

I wonder what he's like live (never seen him live)?

I met him once and we had a short conversation. I found him really friendly, if not terribly shy. But perhaps that was just because we were talking about his recordings...?

[JimL]

What really annoys me is that on the CDs whose plastic wrappings have a tear-strip, it's impossible to find the END of the damn thing!

[Delicious Manager]

What really annoys me is that on the CDs whose plastic wrappings have a tear-strip, it's impossible to find the END of the damn thing!

The end is, more often than not, surreptitiously secreted on one of the spines if the jewel case. If you peer at it REALLY hard, you can usually see where the two ends of the tear-strip meet. Of course, you then have to pick frantically at the whole area because you don't know WHICH of the two ends you can barely see is the one meant to tear off, nor which direction in which it's meant to tear. Joy!

[Gareth Vaughan]

Shrink wrap can be very annoying, I do agree - but I simply don't bother looking for anything to pull or tear; I use my carbon steel kitchen knife (which is always kept razor sharp) - this makes swift work of the tiresome substance.

[JimL]

That's what usually happens.  Wow!  It's like you read my mind or something! 

[thalbergmad]

I got so fed up with shrink wrap, that i now only purchase downloads.

CD wrap seems to be specifically designed to be as difficult as possible to remove and I have little patience with such things.

Gareth would appear to have the best answer, but I am not allowed in the kitchen, so it would be no use to me.

Thal

[Alan Howe]

I have no problem at all with shrink-wrap. Provided I sit down, breathe deeply, don't have anything else to do for a few minutes and (hopefully) haven't cut my nails recently.

Patience, friends, patience...