I think the idea of longboxes was for record stores whose shelves were ready to hold 12" records, and help them make the transition to CDs. I used to see CDs in these boxes all the time in the 1980s and as late as about 1992. And I don't mean the tall plastic security cases, I mean the boxes designed by the record company.

I remember seeing them in the record stores. I never bought one though because those were the days that CD players were too damn expensive. I bought my first CD player around 1993 or 1994.

Cinnie said:

You could be right, but I know they were also used for security. Those big-assed boxes made it much harder for people to shoplift them.

My first CD was a longbox: The Future by Guy

AlexdeParis said:

I think it's both. I do remember seeing a report on MTV about how wasteful the longboxes were, and they mentioned that the primary reason for the packaging was to retrofit already existing record racks. The security thing makes sense, too.

The last one I bought was...



I cut it out and taped it to my gay wall. That wasn't was I actually dubbed the wall, but when I remember that there were also cutouts of Cher and Dolly I just cannot deny it.

I remember having one for MC Lyte Act Like You Know (1991) on my gay wall.

They still make them. I have a Damita Jo longbox.

VoicesCarry said:

Oh yeaaaaah! I think we may have covered this! I literally never see them anymore though.

Cinnie said:

I have never seen them in stores, only purchased them online. I wonder what their purpose is these days

VoicesCarry said:

you mean CDs?

AlexdeParis said:

mines was too
MJB What's The 411?
along with my first CD player

I had got a Tarrie B &
a MC Shan CD too
from my big sis
they came in longboxes too

Cinnie said:

Had too many to list but I use to hang the cool ones all over my wall.
I remember when they stopped making them, and we got just the CD jewel case, the price stayed the same. I was like lower the price if we aint getting extra packaging! The prices those days were like $14.99 to $18.99. in the U.S.

The ones with an elongated design, usually not much different than the cassette cover art, looked awesome.

I hated those cardboard boxes that just had a window for the real cover. Boring.

Cinnie said:

Agreed.
Yea the artwork wasn't really any different it was just something extra (longbox) that you could hang on your wall or whatever.

You could hang them in your skinny locker door at school too.

Yeah the main reason for the Long Box was for stores and them being able to store the product without having to re-model but as the years went on it was really a waste of cardboard and when labels would ship stores cds they couldnt fit that many perbox, trust me I know since when i started my first job it was in Sam Goody back in 88 which was when CDs were still not taking over, Vinyl was present but being condensed more and more, cassettes were a huge thing still obviously since people werent even buying portable cd players yet. I mean seriously think how many formats have gone in the last 15-20 years, Vinyl, Cassettes and now CD's are seeing their days numbered, since all the stores are closing down.

I still have some of them, like the Madhouse CDs, some Prince CDs and some others as well. Oh and I even have a longbox of "U got the look".

Serious said:

a cd single longbox for Prince and Sheena Easton U Got The Look?

Cinnie said:

It's actually a longbox for the cassette single of that song .

Wanna see my longbox..lol

2freaky4church1 said:

Still sealed?

My best friend threw all his long box packaging in the bin because they wouldn't fit in his cd case....

Scooter said:

I think that's where most people's longboxes ended up, but they were still cool for whatever short-lived decoration or craft you could create.

I never seen one being sold here in Portugal.

I still have half of mine. long-

MikeMatronik said:

Maybe you're just too young to remember.

I have some stashed away somewhere.

Made you feel as though you were getting more for your buck.

Cinnie said:

i cant believe you just said your gay wall, what else is there lol

AlexdeParis said:

Europe never wasted their time with longboxes, as cool as they were...
[Edited 7/22/07 9:41am]

AlexdeParis said:

i'm just 25 y.o.