I have about 4000 CDs and over the last two years have converted all of the standard jewel cases to CPP plastic "sleeves" as they're called in Canada/USA. No regrets. They are all displayed in three CD bookcases which are four feet high and three feet wide each, seven shelves high. I keep them in straight alphabetical order regardless of genre. I file compilation CD's separately. I recycle the jewel cases at the recycle depot. I don't convert the digipak cardboard sleeves. I really like cardboard sleeves as they so often have great artwork. On the shelf, they give me all the visual alphabetical hints I need to find the CDs that are in sleeves. I buy used CDs almost exclusively because they are so inexpensive. The used jewel cases are very often horribly dirty or broken, but they did their job keeping the artwork and booklets in near new condition! For me converting the old CD into a new sleeve is a big upgrade both visually and for saving space. The sleeves are crystal clear and the artwork is much more visually appealing. I use sleeves that are 130mm square. I either fold the backing card to fit, or leave it sticking out unfolded to assist in finding it on the shelf. Per sell ability after conversion: I have an eBay store where I sell any CDs that I don't wish to keep. This store more than pays for all the CDs I buy (usually at thrift stores / charity shops for a dollar or two). I resell the CDs in the sleeves without a jewel case as the mailing cost that way is 1/3 the price. I therefore can sell cheaper than most other sellers. I do give the buyer the choice to pay $2 more if they prefer it in a jewel case. I keep the nicest ones and can reconstitute a CD into a jewel case in a few seconds if the buyer wants it that way. Only one person has chosen this option in about 300 sales. Obviously jewel cases are easily acquired and replaced, at least here in Canada. What matters is the artwork, the booklet and the CD. I also rip all my CDs to lossless quality on my computer. I do this whilst I'm listening to the newly acquired CD. I have iTunes match which allows me to listen to all my music on any of my devices. This costs me $28 per year. I store all the music on an 8 TB hard drive. I also back up this hard drive to older smaller hard drives. Even with unlimited space I would still use the sleeve method. Unless the jewel case is pristinely new, the sleeves look so much better than old scratched jewel cases. in this case for me, less is more. Per CD care in a sleeve: I keep the CD inside the booklet. The CD and booklet together slides into the sleeve. The backing card goes in last. When I want to play a CD, I remove the booklet and CD together from the sleeve. Done this way, the CD never has any friction against the paper. It is very easy to learn to take care with the CD. It is far less work than caring for a vinyl record.

You are very brave man Matt. I’ve over a 1000 CDs but would never replace the jewel case for me it’s one of the essential parts of collecting this medium….great video and I’ve subscribed too…

For those wary of doing this: it's worth remembering you don't need to sleeve ALL your discs. I'm just doing it (at least to start with) for sections of my collection that I don't dig into very often. For example, I have a lot of pop, dance and hip-hop compilations and mix CDs and I rarely play these, so I'm starting with those. Some of them are very bulky too, so this is the best place to start to save space. I'm leaving my black metal collection be, since a lot of those are digipacks and digibooks, and it would be a real mess to try and sleeve that section. What I'm saying is that it doesn't have to be all or nothing :)

I've tried this and I've got some in book wallets too but in the end the jewel cases are without doubt the best packaging. Nowadays i digitise the music and the cd's just live somewhere in a box.

Do what makes you happy. I keep mine in jewel cases and sleeves to protect the cases. :) I love my music!

Just started back to collecting last summer. Had only a few CDs after loosing a good size collected twice in the mid and late 90's. Within a year I'm back to 600 CDs and have all of them in the sleeves and recycled the jewel cases. Don't and won't regret it one bit. Will never sell them so not worried about the loss of value. My plan is to pass them on to my sister whose 22 years younger than me and she said she'll pass them on to the next music lover in the family. So hopefully they be in the family for generations. I also RIP all of them to my PC and Phone so I can always have my collection with me.

I understand you are doing it to save space but it's a big mistake in my opinion. For one, you can't see the spines if you want to play something. Secondly, by constantly flipping through them and pulling them out to find the right cd, you will start to crease the inlays through general handling. Thirdly, some cds come with certain colour trays so this info will be lost once you strip an album of all it's original packaging (not to mention some albums such as Pink Floyd have an actual design on the tray edge itself). Also, if you ever come to sell any, you have no boxes unless you have kept them somewhere else which kind of negates the space-saving exercise. I personally would come up with another solution to store some of the cds in another room and switch them out now and again.

A Brit with Hootie And The Blowfish! I'm impressed! I'm obsessed with Queen, too...and, "Queen II", lol.

aside from a few 'special' jewel cases.. I got rid of mine 10 years ago. It was a great choice for me - I have thousands from radio days . I don't show off my music collection that's why it was an easy choice for my needs.

Hi Matt this is something I think I need to do. Thanks for sharing your ideas 👍

I love my jewel cases, the protect the goods inside. They don't take up that much rooom. Certainly better than damned LP's! What i do hate is the CD Diamonds that break off the disc holding centre grip. I'm always trying to find replacement cases. Bad move... you will regret it one day. Each to his own..... but I'm shaking my head.

Hey Matt! Just stumbled across this. Great tip, but I don;t think I could bring my self to so this after having CD's for 40 years. I get where you're coming from, but I just need to see the spine. Will check out more of your videos. just gave you a sub.

I've always hated jewel cases for the simple reason that they break far too easily. Give me a digi pack any day.

I’ve looked at 2 other videos on here and I even bought the sleeves to replace the CD plastic boxes, however I couldn’t do it, it’s part of the package. I did however do it to my DVDS .

Alright Matt, I did it and regret every second of doing it . Devalued my collection and it looks crap on my shelves, to the point I disowned them and put them in boxes. Huge Huge mistake. All the best.

It is your stuff. Do what you want.

For every person doing this there is another searching out good condition original jewel cases (not cheap repros or cdr cases) to restore their collection or 2nd hand purchases. Please don't put undamaged jewel cases in landfill, I'm sure they can be given away on your local marketplace of choice.

I have been collecting CDs from my early 20s on, I'm 58 now. What I did fairly recently: ripped all my CDs to lossless files and put them on a NAS, then threw the CDs out but kept the booklets. I now stream my music and buy no more CDs, only lossless files. I'm very happy with it but I think too radical for you. It definitely solves the storage issue though and aren't those jewel cases ugly? Granted, ripping all my CDs was arduous.

I've noticed that many new CDs come in just a cardboard sleeve rather than the traditional plastic jewel case. The cardboard sleeve scratches the CDs very easily and it is often difficult to get the discs out.

Currently doing this myself 👍 so much more room 👌🏻

Enjoyed the video! I`ve done about 250 so far and not dwelling on any type of regret because with lack of space it simply had to be done. I actually have some plastic wallets mixed in with jewel cases and have the plastic wallets pulled out a fraction. If you approach your cd shelf from the right hand side you can see the plastic sleeve `spine` clearly and for your jewel cases you approach shelf from head on and can clearly see the spines of your jewel cases!

Nice to hear you go thru the pros and cons of different storage formats.

This was an easy trabsition for me because I loathe jewel cases and digipacks

Matt, I recently bought a large lot (380) CDs without the jewel case but all the artwork. This looks like exactly the solution I’m looking for. What is the name of this product and where can I buy them? Thanks! Ken

I’ve been seeing more of this “solution”, but mostly from UK channels. Which makes sense since homes are smaller there than somewhere like North America. I personally couldn’t pull the trigger on doing this (same goes for my retro video game collection). It’s part of the original CD and part of the experience. I would possibly do this if I had thousands of CDs, but then it’d only be to music I care less about. But not really a problem for me as I have a curated collection and don’t usually buy or listen to an album unless I truly like at least half the songs. I also tend to stick closer to mostly 80s and 90s Alternative/Grunge rock. I have a very small collection of rap and have actually started to get into Jazz a bit. The main issue I would have with the sleeves is the potential for scratching the discs over time, constantly pulling/sliding them in and out. But I definitely understand the argument for them especially from the aspect of limited space.

I'd like to get some but im afraid that i won't be able to read the spine and the other issue is that i hate the plastic flap. That WILL infuriate...I think i'd have to fold it inside, but if it started creasing and coming out when i removed the disc i will become ferral.

Hi Matt, that was fantastic, i went to Amazon straight away after watching your video but there is a lot of different brands with good and bad reviews. Can you give me the brand name you are using as you described them very well. Thank you..

I did this about 10 years or more ago and I have never had any artwork or CD damage, I even at one point had them in flimsier sleeves than the more robust ones I have now. The ones I use are large enough to store the tray card without folding. All my CDs are in artist then year of release order and are easy to find, plus digipaks act as reference points in the collection. The only problem you would have finding CDs would be if you stored your collection haphazardly. I’ve over 4000 CDs so this was a big deal and any CD with a case with a specific design stays in the CD case, any with o-card covers go into into sleeves and the o-card stored in the loft with the jewel case….but I have to say o-card covers are a complete waste of time. Devalue the collection? Not planning on selling it, but I’ve plenty of CDs that are rare (for now, who knows if they be still desirable in 10 years) and if I was selling one I’d probably put it in a spare case of which I have a few….but then again, how much do you want the CD?? Would you miss out on something that you have been after for years and years because it doesn’t have a case? Plus how many times do you buy a second hand (or even new in some cases) CD in a case and find on delivery that it’s broken, filthy, the tabs broken off the tray hub rattling around against the CD surface? Then you replace the case and in a few years it looks nearly as bad or you’ve broken the hinge or tabs on the hub again. No thanks chum, I’m through with that game - straight into the bin and into a sleeve. :D

I’ve done this with many of my CDs Matt. I’m very pleased with the results. I do however, keep the jewel cases in the attic although it’s. Ot difficult to replace them for new if you need to sell any

Do you organise cds alphabetically by artist, christian or surname, genre?

I do this with DVDs, I’m debating doing it with my Blue Rays but I haven’t decided yet. I do this with cds I don’t like anymore or aren’t that good to take up shelf space but I couldn’t part with the vast majority of my cases even if I have to store some in bins. Nice content, I’ve subbed I like Cds as much as vinyl also.

I only buy cds in jewel cases as like how it protects the cover,other packages always seem to have damage when i shop & i am not keen on other packaging.

I dislike jewel cases - much prefer the digi case when I can get them. 😎

Hi Matt.. Hiw many cds do u have.?

I've done it and have them in converted CD towers which act like a record crate so they're all front facing rather than side on. I can flip through without coming close to damaging or creasing the inlays. The plastic wallets I have are a little larger than the ones in this video so there's a good centimetre or so of empty space at the top so accidentally creasing just isn't an issue. Sliding inlays in and out of jewel cases is way more likely to cause damage with the little retaining tabs. Any CD in a digipack or where the jewel case has a unique design goes on a different shelf. As for bronzing it isn't an issue. That's a manufacturing defect and if something isn't showing signs now then it's very unlikely to in the future.

Is this going to create ring wear?!

Big mistake getting rid of the cases. Esp if you lose the inlay cards. I did that back in the 2000s for a while on advice to get CD binders etc and regretted it later. Missing inlay cards, couldnt trade or sell old CDs without the cases.

Ditch the cd's all-together. Rip all to FLAC, scan artwork. Backup on more than one drive, with one preferably offsite.

In my opinion, the jewel case is a candidate for the worst piece of ubiquitous design in our era. They are bulky, they break and they aren’t biodegradable. Cardboard is far superior in my opinion. Some people must like them, however, or they wouldn’t have been designed that way.

Do it. In fact save the .wav files and ditch them all together

Matt in my opinion that move is unnecessary as to not only make the storage and information /spline sorting (plus back & forth a pain) but this will greatly devalue your collection. If you don't value your collection or the eventuality of succession of your estate and your CD's - then go for it.

I did this with all of my DVDs. I’ll love it it’s pretty much quadrupled the amount of space I have if not more I have over 7000 titles in my collection now and it only takes up the room of about 1500.

I hate jewel cases, but I don't hate them that much.

I did that 12 years ago and replaced around 500 jewel cases with same thing which saves space...I get what others are saying about finding cds but I hated jewel cases ...these should've been cardboard cases like vinyl....

awesome vid. i had to put my cd collection in books 15 years ago due to home area constraints. ive the space now, but im not willing to shell out the dough for jewel cases. this idea is brill! where do i find these cd envelopes? peace

12,000 cd's here. Not a chance. I have the space, you obviously don't. Also for all the drawbacks you also mention with using plastic sleeves (it's real and I've seen the damage they do to a cd and insert over time).

Just how big is rhe universe anyhow? 🤔

answering your question... is that you make a bad dicision, yes its a mistake

mistake

As long as i have the music cd , i dont care about the jewel case or artwork.The music is the most inportant thing for me.I do the same thing with my dvd movies.Why keep jewel cases or dvd cases.They take up to much space!

when you start putting CDs into little plastic sleeves to save space you have too many CDs. I will never toss my CD jewel cases.

I would never buy a CD from someone who threw out the jewel case. I want mine complete.

Big Mistake! I bet you threw out mint- vinyl records and replaced with cds BITD.

put simply your butchering the product .the case is 50%of the cd.its a bad idea .