I'm really out of the loop--I cannot figure outwhat "back piece of paper" that's in each case that is larger than the booklet? I guess the artwork, right, and it's only larger than the booklet by fractions of an inch?

They won't fit in the CD keeper plastic pages? What a rip!

sorry I can't help. If I run across something, though, I'll let you know.

Marie, I don't know if this has any relevance to your situation, but every time I get a new (favorite) CD, I burn it. The copy goes into a CD binder, which I can grab and put in the car for roadtrips. We have several of these depending on what kind of music. I always play the burned copies, and save the original CDs/jewel cases in a drawer with flip trays. This way, I feel like I can take most of my collection to wherever I need it. I think our binders hold 96, so it's quite a bit of music, depending on what you're listening to at the time. I know this wasn't exactly your question, but thought it might be an alternative option if you can't find what you're looking for. If you do, would you come back and let us know?

We used to own a lot more than 1000 CD's (ridiculous, I know) and got it down to this number because my dh burned many and we sold off the ones he wasn't attached to. Some of the back pages have the listing of songs that are on the CD. This is a big step for us and we don't want to get rid of this sheet of paper.

I'm w/ you, I wouldn't want to either. I can't believe the manufacturer couldn't add the--what--1/4 inch? that's needed to make room for the back cover.

You can make your own CD sleeve and make it as big as you need. But you may need to figure out how to prevent the CD itself from moving around inside if you make it larger than the diameter of the CD. I've made one of these and it works pretty well, especially considering the price and convenience.
http://www.papercdcase.com/about.php

But I'm with Claire De la Luna, you really should be making copies of your CD (i.e. burning them.) Seems like they can be damaged easily so keeping the original somewhere safe seems like a good strategy to me.

Good luck --
Alice

but then, you have 2,000 CDs!

And if they DID get damaged, they'd be easy to replace. Surely there's someone out there selling that CD, used, on Ebay.

I'm with Talley on this one -- The likelihood of losing 1000 CD's would mean that you were faced with some kind of household catastrophe and would lose the additional ones anyway.

Most people don't like every song on a CD anyway -- either burn a few CD's that contain playlists of the songs you want to listen to and then throw away the CD's after awhile.

What are you trying to accomplish by keeping these pieces of paper? If you just want to know what's on the CD, why not cut the insert to fit as I'm sure the important information will remain as most of the borders just contains graphics.

I expunged well in excess of 1000 records, tapes and CD's about 2 years ago - stuff that I had accumulated since grade school and good riddance to all that stuff that was just taking up space for no reason than inertia and some sense that it was meaningful.

I couldn't enjoy it anyway as it was too difficult to locate music. I now have all my music digitized -- both on my computer and in my iPOD which plays in my car. It's enabled me to enjoy music in a way that I wasn't able to as well as freeing up so much space.

My dh has already made burned many CD's making his own playlists. There will be times when he will burn more CD's and then we will sell the originals. Thus, we need a backup of cases and the fronts and backs for all the CD's.

I don't think it's legal to burn the song onto ANOTHER CD and sell the original. Sure, you can get away with it, but I think you'd be afoul of copyright laws, technically.

See, you only have the right to *copy* (or "reproduce") that song BECAUSE you own the original. When you sell the CD, I think technically you should destroy the copy. I could be wrong, but I *think* that's how it is.

Talley Sue is correct with respect to copyright law.

Of course, many people don't follow the law and that's a personal decision. :)

I do like the idea of trimming that paper from the back of the case, so it will fit.

A good reason to get a paper trimmer!

Here is a link that might be useful: here's a $20 paper trimmer!

I have been half wanting to toss the inserts, then I think I should keep them, for reference or whatever. I have no trouble getting rid of the jewel cases when I put the CDs in the plastic sleeves, but I can't bring myself to toss the inserts (or to cut them down). Please convince me that I don't need them!

Wendy, welcome to the club. It took many years for dh to agree to getting rid of the jewel cases. There are companies that sell sleeves large enough for the inserts but it can get expensive if you have many CDs. I haven't checked if there are binder inserts that will hold the inserts. If there are, we might go that route.

I just think that if I can somehow keep the inserts, why would I get rid of them?

I'm not going to convince you that you don't need 'em. I know I would want to keep them, and I'm p.o.'d that all those CD sleeve makers don't provide room for them.

bcs sometimes that's the only place all the songs are listed. And there's info there too, sometimes. and I like to see the pictures sometimes. And I always keep the booklets if the words are in there.

But I'd cut them down in a NY minute.

Mostly because, what am I trimming off? About 1/4 inch, which is about 1/8 inch per side?

And, who's in charge, the paper or me?

(in fact, now I want one of those rotary paper trimmers. I can think of 7 times in the past 3 months when I'd have actually used one)

mother's day is coming up....hmmm...

YOU DON'T NEED THEM :)

If you are keeping them solely for information, that data is more readily accessible on the internet.

The artwork on CD's is pretty miniscule and worthless. The booklets aren't of much use -- if you haven't read it by now, why do you think you need to read it -- that would be like keeping magazines just in case :)

And even if you want to keep all that excess paper, why in the world would you not want to trim it so that it fits into the space provided? CD's are NOT collectibles that need to be kept in pristine glory.

do you really want to go online to find out which track is was that had that great song you like?

thanks for the all caps.

Sorry you didn't get the joke regarding the all caps -- that's the problem with internet.

I assumed the issue was why someone wanted to keep all the extraneous other materials that are packaged with a CD as opposed to just clipping out the track list and stashing it with the actual CD -- that's a pretty small piece of paper.

Everything else is useless -- at least in my opinion and my only point was to get the person to question why they felt the need to retain stuff. That's the question to ask with respect to everything we keep as most of us have an instinctive urge to keep things and need to constantly second guess our hoarding instinct.

Regarding track listings, I wouldn't know as I play CD's through my computer (to the extent that my music isn't already existing in digitized form on the computer). When I insert a CD, all of the track information appears so the piece of paper is completely useless to me.

However, the only functional piece of paper in a CD package is the actual CD (obviously) and the track listing which is probably about 3 inches square :)

The track listing is important, especially since we own every CD ever recorded by various groups. As to why I need to retain stuff: I have no problem getting rid of unused CD's or DVD's but for the ones that we are keeping, I see no need to throw part of the packaging away. The booklet is important and how much space would I actually be saving by getting rid of the back piece of paper? I have already decided that I could get rid of the cases and use sleeves. The cases are where the bulk of the wasted space is anyways. I am now looking for a cheaper sleeve that will hold everything and if I find these sleeves in a binder, I will probably go that route.

well, some of my CDs have other functional pieces of paper--the lyrics, for example.

I have a frustration with people always saying "get it on the Internet." I think this is often specious.

My husband tossed his clips from his old publication, because he figured he could always get them off the company's website--nope, they purged.

Someone once suggested I could save money by reading the newspaper on the Internet--yeah, sure, I can do that on the train, and can tell SO quickly (not) that a story is not interesting to me. W/ print, I can skim an ENTIRE PAGE of 4 stories (I read a tabloid-size) in about 3 seconds. Not true if I have to download them story by story. Headlines aren't often enough to tell whether I want to read them.

And when I'm wondering if this is the same backup singer, or who it was that wrote the song this artist is covering, I don't want to have to go INTO the bedroom, and turn on the computer, and wait for it to boot up, and then call up a website, and search through several layers until I find the information I want on that song.

Folks at my last publication wanted us to put the style book on the intranet. Sure, so I'd have to do lots more work w/ technology I'm not comfortable with, just to update it. And I have to switch from the window I'm working IN, to some OTHER window, and then back--I wouldn't be able to have them both open at the same time. And it would probably be longer--certainly not faster--than grabbing the paper, which is always in the same spot on my desk, and flipping to the fourth page.

Phone lists, too--I use a printout here. I don't have to leave Quark for IE, clip on the menu, scroll down to the phone list, type in the name, hit enter, and wait for the search. There are times the intranet phone list is useful, but lots of times it's slower.

And, we have dial-up, and it takes a while. Even if we had DSL or cable, or even a T-1 line with instant access--I don't keep my computer on all the time, and I don't want to go to TWO places to get stuff.

That's why I won't ditch all my recipes "because I can get them again on the Internet." I'll ditch the ones I'm pretty sure I won't ever use, but I'm keeping America's Cookie Chips in paper version, because I may not be *able* to find them on the Internet in a year when I decide to make them again.

And, I'll keep them in paper, because it's less work than going to the computer in a year, booting up (tap, tap, tap, tap...), opening of the folder, then the file (and Word, tap, tap, tap...), then printing it out.

i figure, if I only keep the recipes I actually think I'll try, they won't take more space than the stuff I often use.

I get frustrated when people act as though storing something on the computer is automatically more wonderful than storing it in real space, real time, the analog world.

I'm sorry if I took it out on you, blazedog.

And Marie26, we're not helping you w/ much practical advice or product-finding, are we?

All I can do is commiserate, and to suggest againt that you give a serious look at the idea of trimming the edges off those sheets so they'd fit--you might be surprised to see how little you need to cut off.

I figure, if you did resell them, you're selling them used, surely the buyer won't care much?

Actually, Talley Sue, I have been helped. Just reading the responses has made me realize my needs. And, I am like you in that I don't like to run to the computer for everything. I still have my recipes on paper which is a good thing because I had them in a folder on my last computer and I didn't save my updated version to a disk. Well, the computer crashed.

I am now making a spreadsheet of all my contact information. This will include every account we have open, every magazine contact number, doctors, pharmacies, landlord, family, etc. But I am doing this so that I can print it and have easy access to it near the telephone. I am still a paper person and will never change.

Hey viva la difference :)

My computer is always on (or in sleep mode) and I have a DSL connection so it's much easier to access any kind of info on the computer than haul out pieces of paper stashed someplace. I've always backed up so I've never lost data.

All the paper, CD's and other stuff that is stored on my computer rather than in the form of hard copies eliminates clutter and makes room for the stuff that actually needs to exist.

However, even if you keep CD's they are NOT valuable collectibles so there is no reason to trim and eliminate to make them more suitable for your storage needs.

The vague feeling that things might be useful or functional is at the root of a lot of clutter.

blazedog, you wrote: The vague feeling that things might be useful or functional is at the root of a lot of clutter.
And you know, that is my biggest problem with getting rid of stuff, because sometimes it is (useful or functional). My desk has been covered with a thin layer of papers recently, because each has something on it that I need for my technical writing, and I don't want to take the time to put them into a folder if I am eventually going to throw them away.

In areas of our home, this saving for future usefulness seems to get excessive. I think I may trash the large pile of CD liners, only because I haven't looked at them at all since removing them from the cases. That may just be better for me.

Wendy -- I am still such a packrat that I have to consciously go through all the steps before releasing stuff. When I first decided to attempt to bring some order to my life, I did a lot of reading on the psychology of hoarding and cluttering and I kept stuff for ALL the five basic reasons. I also came from a family that kept EVERYTHING so I had no experience that people actually got rid of things instead of storing them in the basement, garage or someplace tightly packed away.

My mother's place was always clean and tidy :)

I realized that keeping stuff takes a lot of energy -- harder to find things; harder to clean; accessing stuff creates a mess and that keeping stuff is like a domino -- if you use space and energy to keep something, then you are taking away space and energy from something else.

I THOUGHT I had gotten rid of all my records but there was a flood in the basement of my building and the box of records I had stashed down there three years ago was the only thing that got soaked ironically. What a relief to be able to toss in the garbage as I had clung to this box ONLY out of some vague feeling of sentimentality -- my old Dylan bootlegs and other stuff from my well spent youth :)

I still have way too much stuff but I am so relieved that I look at things as having to justify their existence in my universe rather than meriting space simply because they have entered my home :)

By way of follow up - any music information can be located at a phenomenal site called allmusic.com. I am currently working at a record company and it is what WE use to reference stuff since they have such complete and accurate data and it is more accessible than the stuff we have on OUR artists :)

Wendy -- regarding your technical data. I think everybody has stray bits of information (of whatever nature) that they amass and don't know how to deal with. I have a VERY small desk area so I have to have some kind of system -- this is the system that works for me -- If it's a small note or url or something like that, I take a few seconds to write the information on a database that I've created which is searchable by any criteria; if I really think I need the entire piece of paper I scan it and then file the jpeg in a computer folder that would correspond to a paper folder system.

storing stuff in the computer could also violate one of those tried-and-true organizing dictums (not that any of them are sacred; just that most of the time they make a lot of sense):

"Store it where you use it"

I use my recipes in the kitchen; it wouldn't make sense to store them on a computer in my bedroom.

I listen to music in the living room; it wouldn't make sense to store my extra info (lyrics, liner notes, artist's pic) on a computer in my bedroom.

I do my paperwork in the bedroom and the dining room (files are in the "office area" of the bedroom; the only usable work surface is the DR table)--putting some of that stuff on the computer might make sense for me.

I also find that scanning stuff or filing it on my computer simply creates *another layer* of tasks, and then I just don't get to it (violates the "make putting it away easy" rule). So unless it gets CREATED on the computer, or unless the manipulation of it is SO much better on the computer (if I tracked myf inances in a spreadsheet, for example), it doesn't go in the computer.

I've even stopped putting addresses in the computer, because the manipulation of the data isn't any easier than writing it in my address book--which is by the phone and by the DR table, where I'll use them. And it's easier to look them up there, too--not in the bedroom, after booting up (or interrupting my DH while he's using the machine; I can, but I like to avoid it).

Oh, Wendy, here's another idea for you w/ all those "for now" papers--less work than scanning or entering it: I have a file that is JUST for "for now" stuff. All of it, no matter what it's about. It never gets that full, because every time I go in there to find the one thing I'm looking for (page by page), I throw out the stuff I already know I don't need anymore. That keeps it down to a dull roar.

Keeps it all in ONE spot, so I can find it, and it still looks tidy.