Badly designed box sets

[teamsaint]

A couple of examples of poorly thought out , and user unfriendly ,impractical design.

The RVW Warner 30 CD set. No reference at all to what is on each cd,plain paper sleeves, and a box that require fully taking apart just to rummage around hopefully in.

The Rattle CBSO big box.
Again,needs fully taking apart, , and needs direction specific reassembly, and also not great for locating specific CDs quickly. Looks nice,though.


Any other candidates? Or examples of good design?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Many (?all?) of the Warner big boxed sets have frustrating "sleeves" - I've been playing the John Ogdon box and all 17 discs are in cardboard sleeves identical to the front cover, and differing from each other only with the disc number meekly hiding in the bottom left corner. Seeing Tippett's name on the front cover of one disc at one point got me in a mild panic in that I couldn't remember hearing any of his work on the disc I'd just been listening to!

It's probably a better idea to store the discs in their box with the sleeves back-to-front, so that what's showing when we open the box is the back cover, with the contents more clearly seen. An annoying faff, but just remember how little we paid for the boxes in the first place.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The equivalent SONY/CBS boxes seem to be more attractive in that they preserve the original LP cover images, so it's clear which disc is which. BUT, the problem here is the often short playing times of some of the discs, and some peculiar resulting contents - having the Grieg Peer Gynt suites in the Bernstein Sibelius box, for example - or the absence of the Tourel song cycles in the Mahler box (not to mention the absence of the Lied von der Erde from that set - and the Wunderhorn disc, too, for that matter).

[teamsaint]

Many (?all?) of the Warner big boxed sets have frustrating "sleeves" - I've been playing the John Ogdon box and all 17 discs are in cardboard sleeves identical to the front cover, and differing from each other only with the disc number meekly hiding in the bottom left corner. Seeing Tippett's name on the front cover of one disc at one point got me in a mild panic in that I couldn't remember hearing any of his work on the disc I'd just been listening to!

It's probably a better idea to store the discs in their box with the sleeves back-to-front, so that what's showing when we open the box is the back cover, with the contents more clearly seen. An annoying faff, but just remember how little we paid for the boxes in the first place.

Well the boxes aren't designed to retail at the £7 (!!)that I paid for the RVW, and clearly they are done with costs in mind, but, for example the Brilliant Classics Brahms edition 40 cd box is nice and easy to use. The Sony 50Great Recordings is also both pretty user friendly( cd sleeve edge top most with album details visible and readable, ) and attractively done.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Warner 50 Great Recordings is also both pretty user friendly( cd sleeve edge top most with album details visible and readable, ) and attractively done.

You've reminded me of the great flaw in the BMG/SONY "Wagner - Great Recordings" box, where the labels of the cardboard sleeves (just about readable) are put exactly opposite to the slot in which the discs themselves enter/leave them - so, without due diligence, the discs neatly slip out of the sleeves as you remove them from the box!

[teamsaint]

You've reminded me of the great flaw in the BMG/SONY "Wagner - Great Recordings" box, where the labels of the cardboard sleeves (just about readable) are put exactly opposite to the slot in which the discs themselves enter/leave them - so, without due diligence, the discs neatly slip out of the sleeves as you remove them from the box!

Absolutely .....and just readable is right too.
I think this shows that design will always be a compromise, but some compromises are better than others.EG Flip top lids are convenient,but inherently prone to damage.

[Petrushka]

Beware of those boxes where the top lifts off! Carelessly extracting one of these from the shelves can result in the whole of the box containing the CDs crashing to the ground while you are left holding the lid.

The lighter boxes with this design such as the Kubelik and Böhm symphonies editions on DG are prime examples. On the other hand, the huge Karajan 1960s, 70s and 80s boxes (also DG) although using the same design are not one handed extrication jobs and are, in my opinion, beautifully done, quite the finest boxed sets I've encountered in both design and content.

So many of the CDs in boxes are almost impossible to extract from the sleeve, the very worst ones being those in a two CD gatefold set up. These are impossible to remove without fingers touching the disc so for this purpose I purchased some cotton gloves from Boots as recommended by a fellow Forumista a while back.

Many, many CDs in boxes are virtually impossible to get out of the damn sleeve but the most awful sleeves I've come across are the ones in the Günter Wand Radio recordings box on Profil. They are your standard paper sleeves but - and get this - they are sealable so that it is impossible to extract the disc without the risk of getting some nasty sticky residue on the CD. I threw them away and purchased some of the normal paper CD/DVD sleeves from Amazon.

[Petrushka]

It comes to mind that having to purchase cotton gloves or new sleeves to achieve the childishly simple task of extracting a CD out of what came with the set just shows how shoddily designed some of them are!

[Bryn]

Not a CD boxed set but one of DVDs, namely the Beckett on Film box.



which, ironically, does not include FILM, recently made available, along with NOTFILM, on Blu-ray/DVD by bfi. However, my beef is that the hinged 'lid' of the Beckett on Film box just will not hold in the closed position. It insists on flapping open.

[cloughie]

Bearing in mind the low cost per CD in most of the boxes I can bear with the inadequacies of box design. What really gets to me is the strange way in which the record companies compile the boxes - some are fine and complete - others seem to be thrown together - a bit of this and a bit of that and then when another compilation is done the lack of thought is compounded by duplication of some previous items and some different stuff, often at prices which make duplication expensive. Then after I have diligently put together about 60% of a conductor's output they'll go and produce a complete set. I think I've bought Beethoven's DG Symphony set three times now - on their own, with the Brahms and Bruckner and in the big Jochum box.

[Petrushka]

I think I've bought [Jochum's] Beethoven's DG Symphony set three times now - on their own, with the Brahms and Bruckner and in the big Jochum box.

Ha-ha, so have I! The record companies are not daft and know just how to exploit collectors in this way. I have so far bought the Böhm Symphones box, the Late Recordings box and also the Great Recordings box. It is only a matter of time before DG issue a handsome complete Böhm boxed set with recordings never before issued on CD, all in original jackets and the other three sets will become instantly redundant.

[Pulcinella]

The equivalent SONY/CBS boxes seem to be more attractive in that they preserve the original LP cover images, so it's clear which disc is which. BUT, the problem here is the often short playing times of some of the discs, and some peculiar resulting contents - having the Grieg Peer Gynt suites in the Bernstein Sibelius box, for example - or the absence of the Tourel song cycles in the Mahler box (not to mention the absence of the Lied von der Erde from that set - and the Wunderhorn disc, too, for that matter).

Yes but, no but.
There is sometimes more content on the CD than on the original LP, so you need to go hunting through the index/list of contents in the accompanying book. This is certainly the case with the Stravinsky original covers set, and I think the Boulez Sony box too.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes but, no but.
There is sometimes more content on the CD than on the original LP, so you need to go hunting through the index/list of contents in the accompanying book. This is certainly the case with the Stravinsky original covers set, and I think the Boulez Sony box too.

Ah - I don't have those: the "cost:duplicate" ratio is a bit too heavy on the "cost" side for me. There's no "extras" on the two Bernsteins - though the reproduction of the original cover of the Fifth Symphony proudly announces the Kindertotenlieder with Jennie Tourel, which was a coupling on the fourth side of the original double album LP, but absent from the boxed reissue.

[jayne lee wilson]

For impracticality you couldn't beat the flimsy, flappy cardboard affair that the 2006 Melodiya remaster of the DSCH Symphonies came in. If you withdraw it from the shelf absently, all the cardboard sleeves can fall out - you try to grab at them as they descend, losing your grip on the box, which ends up on the floor looking even sadder.

Yet the sleeves themselves are lovely - all individual, cream & black Russian engravings.

But even gratifyingly heavy boxes have their foibles. The very same cycle on Aulos comes in a weighty old-gold & taupe case which I simply couldn't figure out how to open at first.... the right hand end of it was actually magnetic, sitting flush with the case. It opens like a hinged door. Still, it gives a satisfyingly crisp snap when it shuts...
Aulos have a thing about it, as the Taneyev's DSCH Quartet Cycle box is even thicker and heavier! Nice shade of turquoise though.
Just a shame the English notes are either unreadable or hilarious, depending on my mood.

Those sealed-envelope CD things are a strange one aren't they? You wonder who thought that would be a good idea. The Norrington Haydn London Symphonies arrived like that, and the SWR Zender Schubert set (both Hanssler). My gorgeous 2ndhand box of the 1952 Vegh Beethoven (Music & Arts) is also afflicted. But they do seem to dry up over time, staying open.

[pastoralguy]

My Mackerras set of the Mozart Symphonies with the Prague Chamber Orchestra have these sealed envelopes too. I simply sealed them then slit the envelopes open with a sharp knife. Most odd.