What CD cases do people prefer? The normal CD size case or the larger CD-i cases? If you're a collector you might like it that all cases are of the same size and shape. For me, the regular jewelcases are the most beautiful.
- Most titles are available in this format.
- Regular jewelcases can be replaced more easily when one breaks.
Above you' ll see how Philips released the first generation of CD-i titles (1991) in USA. The first generation titles were released in vertically oriented grey boxes, including a cardboard slipcase.
The second generation (and the european release) was released in vertically oriented jewelcases, with the logo on the top and opening horizontally. (see above). You can notice a smal variation here as they switched from a standard font of the word CD-i to the more recently used logo in the spine. As of 1993, all released titles went into a regular cd case, the normal jewelcase with the CD-i logo on the left spine, like this: Almost all old released were re-released in this new format.
The change of CD cases had different reasons. Philips stepped away from the grey boxes because of cost reasons. The extra slipcase and the packaging inside made these boxes relatively expensive. When CD-i launched in Europe, Philips developed their own kind of jewelcase. But due to low sales, big retail stores had trouble showcasing this 'unknown' size of CD case. Stores did not want to invest in specific shelves that could hold CD-i's. So Philips either put their CD-i discs in normal sized CD-Audio cases or they didn't want to have CD-i in their stores at all. Philips wanted to have the discs in as many stores as possible, so they changed again to the regular CD jewelcase format. Probably it was a cost reduction as well, because these CD cases were broadly used for CD Audio as well.
Which one do you own and which one do you prefer?