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CDs And Green Markers. Please Don’t Laugh.

I’m sorry. I apologize. If anything has been done to death, it’s this. And yet . . . 

I was pulling “Darkness On The Edge Of Town” out of my CD player the other day and wondering if Bruce had really made peace with his father when I noticed the edge of the disc was green. Looking through my collection, I found a bunch of them so marked. “Let It Be” by The Replacements. “Murmur.” Stuff that came out during the brief period after the introduction of the CD and before the green pen became an embarrassment. 

I should give a quick kudos to the albums that have survived countless culling that keeps my active collection at about 500 discs. Discs that are easily stored because I always take the discs and printed media out of the ridiculous plastic “jewel” cases and put them in DiscSox, an invention I can’t believe has been overlooked by the Nobel committee. 500 discs fits into five trays from Office Depot and the whole collection takes up about 16x30 inches and the height of a CD. I can’t imagine living with the original packaging. 

I never A/B’ed any of the albums with the green marking. Never looked into the science of the green pen. Back in the day, it was cheap, it was easy, and it was supposed to work. Why not try it? When it became a laughingstock, I stopped. 

But like skinny ties, I assume that green markers have come in and out of vogue many times since 1982. I love a good tweak and wonder if anyone has justified the use of the green marker. I’m not looking far a scientific explanation. Herbie’s Super Black Hole actually works but without anything close to a reason for doing so. I’d be thrilled if the same was true if green pens. 

Besides, those looking for science in audio forums should familiarize themselves with a priori reasoning, and the problems attendant upon it. 

Where have I gone? Why so much wandering? Is it because the initial question is so stupid? Still, I’d like to know: Has anything happened since, say, 1985, that would make greening the edge of CDs sensible?

If not, I promise to apologize and slink quietly back into the darkness.

paul6001
paul6001 OP
98 posts
 

I didn’t see any line drawings so I wonder if you went to the right site. 
 

Entering disc sox takes you to mmdesign.com. The company has diversified wildly, probably because there’s only so much money that you can make from selling 6” plastic sleeves. 
 

On the list of products, find “Music CD Storage.” Click more info. At the bottom of the next page you’ll find “CD Standard Plus Sleeves.” $8.95 for 25  That’s all you need  They sell lots of fancier versions that I’ve never tried but I’m guessing are more trouble than they’re worth  

 

You do need something to hold the CDs, though  As I said, Office Depot (now the Late Office Depot?) sold perfectly sized metal racks. The DiscSox racks are probably fine, I just haven’t tried them. 
 

i have absolutely no affiliation with the company  For 20 years I’ve been stunned at what a lousy packaging CDs have traditionally been packed in, and what a simple, elegant solution DiscSox are. Discovering them was a life changing—not to mention space saving—event.

 

Post removed 
ghdprentice
7,082 posts
 

I like CD Stoplight… it helps make discs sound better. But I stopped buying CDs now that streaming quality is at or above CD quality. All my 2,000 discs have been “Stoplite”.

paul6001 OP
98 posts
 

Dill, I’m sorry but I don’t understand your post. “Not to those who never tried it.” Because those people don’t understand the beauty of green edged CDs? They don’t know the aural beauty that could be theirs? They haven’t seen the double blind, peer reviewed study from MIT that gushed over the power of the green marker?”
 

Is that what you were trying to say?

dill
2,534 posts
 

As you know, tweaks like these are fodder for the ones that already know that it "can't work" without ever trying them. My response was a bit of a dig on them.

 

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