Record Sleeves - Which ones and where?

Agree with Markd51 about the Japanese resealable outers. They are simply a higher-quality way to store the records. Not as bulky, crystal clear, and I like being able to fully seal the album.

One thing-they are not 6 mil thick, in fact they are very thin, but seem sturdy enough. Occasionally on a heavily-used album I'll split a seam, but it's rare.

Correct Johnbrown, I believe I did make an error stating they were 6 mil thick, and are probably 3 mil thick? Bes at MusicDirect can probably confirm this.

What I think the material is, is Mylar, and heck, I got Snare Drum, Snare Side Heads that are made of 3 mil thick Mylar! The Remo Ambassador Snare Side is a 3 mil thick Head.

It is not a "stretchy" material, thus when you go to open the flap to extract an LP, it doesn't stretch all out of shape like a poly outer sleeve will. Not to say that they are bulletproof, but with care will last many years, and will protect your vinyl investment.

As you said John, they are crystal clear, and I'm very happy somebody came along making a quality product like this. Mark

Well I got my order today from Music Direct. I got 300 outer sleeves and 100 poly lined paper inner sleeves (to start*). The outer sleeves were advertised as 6 mil, and are very nice. Double albums fit with little hassle. It's easy to see the album covers through the sleeves. These are well worth the investment if your album covers are in nice shape and you want to preserve them. The inner sleeves are fine too. The paper isn't much heavier than a normal paper sleeve, but the poly lining makes it nice. I think I'll get a couple of samples from Sleeve Town and compare. *My thinking is that I can get more inner sleeves comparable to these for less $$$. The one thing I wasn't ready for is the time required to change out all the sleeves! I've been at it for a couple hours now and I've got a long way to go........but they're worth it.

Spenceroo: Shouldn't you be washing your albums before putting them in clean sleeves to minimize the dust from the stock cheap paper sleeves?

Please post what you think of the comparison of other manufacture sleeves as I'm going to have to do this with my small collection.

Cytocycle,
I've been giving the albums a dry brush treatment before putting them in the new sleeves. I'll do a thorough wash when I get my Kab EV-1. I'm going to get some sample sleeves for a penny each at Sleeve Town and compare. I'll post my findings when they get here.