Color Tinted Jewel Cases

[phobaphobia]

Hello, I've been looking all over the web for smoke (clear black) tinted jewel cases, and I have not had any luck at all. From what I can tell there are absolutely none to be had anywhere, and due to a lack of demand (yeah, right. Then where did they all go?) no one is making them anymore. Michelex used to stock these, and they do have some of the tinted trays leftover, but aside from that their stock has been completely liquidated.

I'm hoping to run into someone here who may be able to point me in the right direction in finding some back stock, or maybe some injection molding company who may be interested in running a batch (I can get the dye to tint them). I could use 1,000-2,000 of them, but at this point I will take whatever quantity I can get my hands on. Please email me if you have any you'd be willing to sell, or feel free to email me if you have any other suggestions on how I may be able to achieve the tinted effect on the jewel cases myself. Just to be clear, I am not interested in the tinted slim cases. I appreciate any and all help. Thank you!

[admin]

I wish you luck on this.

Indeed, many "not in demand" (translation: "not cheap") Cd/DVD cases have gone off the market in recent years. Some of my favorites are gone too. I've had to redesign packaging more than once because of it.

Generally all you find in the "smoke" style these days are in colors. For example: http://www.mediamegamall.com/khyperm...5-p-15897.html or http://www.mediamegamall.com/verbati...78-p-5633.html or http://www.mediamegamall.com/imation...85-p-5169.html

Translucent blue or purple is about as close as you can get.

Even eBay doesn't seem to have things like it used to. (At one point, there were some great case sellers on there!)

My only advice at this point, is to start with some of the merchants here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/buy-dvd-cases.htm --- and if they don't have what you want in stock, ask for help from them. Not yet on that list is Polyline Corp and SleeveCity/SleeveTown.

These are all USA/Canada companies, of course. In Europe, many of the blank disc sellers have cases, too.

In fact, be sure to check Europe, if you've not done so. (Again, assuming you're in North America.) I've imported cases from Europe a number of times.

Again, good luck!

[phobaphobia]

Thanks for the advice and the links. It appears none of those places have what I am after, though. I checked Sleeve City and while they do have the trays, they do not have the matching jewel boxes. I need both.

Why don't manufacturers produce these anymore? It seems that out of all the "special" media packaging that is out there, these would be extremely easy to make and to keep in production. All they have to do is use tinted plastic in a batch of standard cases and trays. The only thing I can even imagine that would be a pain about it would be cleaning the machines out after the run was complete, but you could justify the extra cost and labor of that with the extra expense of the product. If they aren't in demand, then why is everyone sold out?

I'm still hoping to run into someone here who can help me out with this, but while I'm still holding on to some hope it seems like a good opportunity to vent some frustration here. Maybe if enough people show interest in these tinted cases someone will step up and produce another batch for distribution. Probably not before my project's deadline is up, though. Bummer.

[admin]

As the shift continues away from optical media, products will follow. We've already seen the cheapening of the available products, be it discs or cases. Next will come limitations in various supplies, which have happened too, albeit in small niches. This may be yet another niche, this special style of case.

Very often, the products disappear entirely, I'm sad to say. I went through this with VHS, S-VHS, CD and now it's DVD.

Solid-state and on-demand media is displacing optical discs more and more as years go by.

If there's something speial you like, buy it now, in mass amounts. That's been my solution to certain archival media, as well as storage cases.