While waiting to lunch with a friend I happened upon an AOL free trial package. I was thinking about how the EPA should declare these things a plague on the environment when I noticed something very familiar about the packaging.
It wasn't the promise of a 5x faster Internet downloads or ten-thousand free hours of service in the first trial month. No, it was the plastic case that caught my eye — I've seen these drink coasters come wrapped on a card, attached to a newspaper sleeve, on movie seats, and in DVD size cases. Someday we might even have AOL toilet paper — a little rough, sure but it will be free! No it was something completely new.
Upon further inspection of the clear case I looked at the lower left and confirmed that in my hands was a Super Jewel Box, the debut product of the fantastic Jewelboxing System.
Somewhere, somehow, America Online decided to drop their usual cheap packaging crap and went for the olympic gold of CD/DVD packaging.
It would seem that with this gift of cool free packaging AOL has decided to give something back to the community, something we can use long after the original contents are ripped out and used to protect wood against cold drink condensation.
So the next time you rummage through your neighbor's mail, be on the lookout for these babies because they are awesome cases and — and not everyone knows this — can be used to block laser beams from outer space which is something, I dare say, a "collectors tin" cannot do.
Congratulations to Jim and company, I can only assume this was a big home run for their upstart packaging company.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Who uses AOL CDs for drink coasters anymore? Pffttt. In my friend's neighborhood they are hung from all the fruit and citrus trees like sparkly California Christmas decorations to keep the pesky birds away.
The official web site for Super Jewel Boxes is actually www.superjewelbox.com. They seem to be standard for SACDs nowadays. Let us shun the fumious digipack...
My mom uses them to scare away birds in her garden. Really.
I have about 1000 of these sitting in my office right now. We decided to use them for our video yearbook this year and they have turned out to be a great product.
However, in the end, I like consistency and I would prefer the usual black box to blend it with the rest of my collection. This is the same annoyance I get when some label decides to produce an album in a paper or cardboard case instead of the usual jewel box.
AOL, the source of all my DVD cases. I'll keep an eye out for the Jewelboxes but doubt they'll ship them over here to the UK - fingers crossed though!
I've been using the Super Jewel Box (in this case King-size) for years. I honestly doubt AOL purchased theirs from Jewelboxing.com, simply because they could get a better deal elsewhere, and wouldn't need the benefits of Coudal's system.
While Jewelboxing has put together a great package, other retailers sell the cases (w/o custom inserts & templates) for half the price. I can only imagine the wholesale arrangement AOL got.
I received one yesterday and noticed the same thing too. I befuddled my coworkers by being so excited by the packaging. I said, "You don't understand, it's the super jewel box!" I removed the crap from inside and kept the box.
I actually don't like the "superjewelbox". They've got hard plastic covers, which, while perhaps a tad more robust overall, are still prone to cracking whereas a standard black jewel box is not. My two cents.
They have, in fact, noted this on their site ;-)
Jewel Boxing Blog Report
Thanks for the post G. We did not, in fact, negotiate the purchase of millions of cases by AOL. That was handled elsewhere. Although we do have bulk pricing available through Jewelboxing, most of our orders are to individuals who buy the complete system.
Anybody reading this who wants to give the system a try, send a mail to crew at jewelboxing dot com and mention Airbag and we'll give you ten bucks off a 20pack. Cheers.
There you go baby, it pays to read Airbag! Thanks Jim!
Off topic, but since you linked to the Sony Ericsson phone:
Be sure to use one for a while before you purchase. I wanted a T68i when it came out, and went as far as to eBay one before the official release. A month later I sold it again, because let me tell you, the OS on those things is completely unusable. Using any of the advanced features like email and such is pretty impossible, or at least it was a year or so ago.
I'm waiting for the Nokia 7610, personally.
Ah-ha! Somebody has come across them. I've had them for quite a while now, about the same time Jim and Co launched Jewelboxing. I didn't want to tell Jim when I met him that I had a few cause I somehow felt guilty for having these...
I hate AOL, their stupid browser, and their pitiful CDs.
Anyhow, maybe we can keep checking to see if the CD design will show up here. I'll have to tell my mother to stay on the lookout for a CD for me. With some careful doctoring, I'll rip it apart and make it my own.
Now, if they only give out these god darn AOL cds here in my country, I'm going to be a happy camper! I agree those jewelboxes by Coudal and co. are really nice and cool!
Though I hope this helps Coudal and Company, the move will probably be short lived. Just as all the other packaging gimmicks (the altoids-esque tin box?) in the past, the change is made to get your attention (we've all just proved it worked) and once we settle into the environmental devastation of this one and new package will emerge.
I still miss the days of the floppy disks, when AOL caught on I never had to buy another disk again.
(By the way, yesterday was my last day at AOL, where I worked for 3 years as an interaction designer, and had nothing to do with the marketing folks responsible for the disks, which we all hated as well)
um, plastic cases like this are available if you know where to find them-- they aren't isolated to jewelboxing.com. Ultimately it's likely that AOL and Coudal get them from the same source via distributer or whatever. If you know where to find them, anyone can buy them.
I love the cases but I'm having a heck of a time getting the AOL sticker off the back of the case. Any hints as to what you guys are using to get that crap off?
I got a neat little wooden case. I thought it was pretty damn cool. If their aim was to get me to open up the package, they did the job. But I didn't care what was actually inside the case. It could have been a porn, and I probably wouldn't have noticed. I was just way too impressed with the neat little wooden case.
Don't mean to pee in any ones chocolate cake here but I can't stand jewelboxes. My wife has been working in the DVD indsutry for years and they're the most problematic pieces of cheap plastic going. They have a habit of breaking at the hinges. I sell DVDs and I moan audibly if a new product arrives and it's housed in a jewelcase.
to pee in any ones chocolate cake
Send an email to crew at jewelboxing and I'll send you a sample. If you don't think this is a major improvement over the standard case BA, you can feel free to put out the birthday candles.
Here's a weird one...got a new AOL disc yesterday, and it wasn't in a super jewel boxing box at all. Oddly enough it seems to be made of some sort of fiber board, almost wood like. The labeling completely covers the entire exterior surface. Very weird, I kept it just to transport CD-r's back and forth to the office as it will hold 4 cd's.
Hmm, you know I got one too, and the package is a dense, fibrous green material, not unlike a corn husk or young bamboo plant. Despite a dynamic and bold graphic layout It seems completely organic and after I left it in the sink overnight it seems to have sort of sprouted something. Ok, joke. Sorry.
Well Coudal I will be more than happy to look at them and have my wife give them the once over. I've sent my address along and i will give my honest opinion of the product.