Round, Shiny Logistics

[Phyltre]

I'd like to know two things;

First, why are nearly all mobile CD-Holders either the kind that goes on your visor (just a row of fabric slits your CD's go into) or the horribly annoying crackly removable-individual-sleeve thing? (Both of these are ill-suited to burned CD's; I want to print a regular cd-playlist, not a CD label.)

Second, what are the alternatives to these two? I know that there are fancy organization cabinets for CDs, and nicely designed towers, but those aren't what you'd call mobile material. I'm looking for something that has permanently-seated sleeves (or a sleeve alternative, even better!), has an easy way to put CDs in and take them out (the current sleeves sometimes cling and make loud paper noises), and some method of putting those square playlists in there to identify each disc.

Failing those two, could everyone post their favorite kind of cd-holder?

PS--And no, an mp3 player won't help. I'm using the cd's in cars, and stereos, and other similar incompatible hardware.

[Mrs_Mia_Wallace]

Sorry, I don't own a mobile CD holder, I put all the CDs (in their original or slim cases) I want to listen to in my bag. Yes, I always carry a big bag with me

Mia

[k_rock923]

Times like this are when I think that those old cd drives that used caddies weren't such a bad idea.

[CaboWaboAddict]

I have a small rack built into my console that holds about 10 jewel cases. I don't like either of the options you spoke of, The CDs tend to get scratched.

I once saw a car turn a corner and all of the CDs in his visor holder went out the window! Rescued a few that didn't get damaged...

[Phyltre]

So I'm not strange for wanting a new kind of cd-holder? I'd always thought I was being picky, but I guess the market really does anti-pwn at the moment.

[shakey_snake]

mobile enough for me.

[eleet-2k2]

pssh...CD holders...I built my own jukebox... no CDs required.

But if I do want CDs, I'll carry them in individual slim jewel cases or the pouches with individual fabric sleeves because anything else can be horrible on the CD scratching it and whatnot.

[Phyltre]

See, Shakey, that's borderline what I want. The only problem is, my convoy is a mostly full bookbag, so the CD's can't carry such a wide profile.

[MonKeyRum]

One thing I have seen someone do is take those crinkly plastic sleeve books you have mentioned and place the playlist/book in the sleeve right next to it. It eats up half of your storage space in the book but it does the trick.

[InvisableMan]

convert to a minidisc player? that's what i have. works great.

[Phyltre]

Well, the thing is, I have the regular-format CD's just to play in my friends' car-stereos, and in the older stereos around my and my girlfriend's house. With MP3 cd's it's not a problem because I just make compilations, and only need a few with me at a time; but usually my friends want to hear a particular song (and since they're using regular old stereos or players, no new format or media will work.)

It bothers me that burned regular-format, high-mobility CD holders are so crappy.


This is the part of the post where I let everyone know I have considered their ideas, if you've got a short attention span just skip this:

I used to lug jewel cases around with my CD's. Unfortunately, that only lasted a few months--because the cases cracked and etched the CD surfaces. No fun there. From that point I moved to the process of sticking the labels into the crackly sleeves of a loose-leaf CD holder which had two vertical rows of slits (so the label would be onb the top layer, and the actual CD would be in the bottom half of the sleeve under it.) The problem with this was that the sleeves often came disconnected from the spine, floating around the case and getting crunched up and putting light scratches on my CD surfaces. Plus, the CDs actually got stuck to the insides of the sleeves; at one time a sleeve ripped the foil off the top of a CD as I removed it! From there, I decided to go a little higher tech, and tried various car-set type configurations; namely, an MP3CD player with an iRock radio signal generator. But for whatever reason, sound quality on that thing is worse than actual radio. Blech. So then I tried one (several) of those cassettes with the wire coming out the back that you plug into your CD player; amazingly, the sound quality was even worse than with the iRock, and hissed and popped in a closed loop.
So it was back to lugging regular CDs, and right now I'm risking them with another (slightly less crinkly) cannibal CD holder. Which is why I post here. There's gotta be something better out there...I'm gonna go do research.

[Phyltre]

After much suffering, I have found two alternatives to standard CD-holdage. One is the clam-shaped CD holder, which is almost the exact size of a CD, round, with two holes at the left for clipping into a notebook or whatever.

But far more promising would be the stuff over at diskgear.com. It's kind of like an accordion, but not, and it has built-in indices. They have 20-disk and 40-disk models, bookbags made specifically for the holders, and different styles of outer surfaces for the cases. As soon as I get the funds, I'll buy one and see how it works in practice.

Legal Disclaimer: I do not stand to profit by recommending diskgear.com, as I do not work there or get routinely bribed by them. Forgive me for both replying to myself and reviving an old thread; I fear both were necessary in this instance.