Record Sleeve Recommendation

You just can't win! nt

The only record sleeves I would now purchase are the Mobile Fidelity (inner) sleeves. They are more expensive but they work as intended and the quality control tends to be more consistent than sleeves from other sources.

The poly-lined paper sleeves from Acoustic Sounds do leave the record exposed to contaminants from the record jacket. I've had dust/paper bits/etc. from older record jackets end up on the exposed portion of the LP. After spending a lot of time and trouble to clean them and protect them, I'm not willing to have the cleaned LPs subjected to contamination just because the sleeve wasn't designed properly. If they fix the design and manufacture so that the LP is fully covered the sleeves would be excellent for the money.

I no longer order any sleeves from other sources or manufacturers due to poor design or inconsistent quality control. If someone finds a source other than Mobile Fidelity that has a well designed sleeve and consistent quality control, I'd be willing to give them a try.

Tom

Mofi, don't know if you're refering to Sleeve Town/Sleeve City's "Diskeeper Ultimate Audiophile Inner Sleeves" mentioned in Myles' article, but I wasn't impressed with them. They could be fantastic sleeves for the money but they were designed/manufactured just slightly too narrow so that when you slide the LP into them they will often split. I've had to tape the split seams on more than half of the sleeves I bought. They don't always split the first time you put a LP into them but it seems that eventually they will. Again, they have potential, but until they get the sleeve design and manufacturing corrected they aren't worth the savings compared to the Mobile Fidelity sleeves. If you do buy the SleeveTown sleeves, I'd only buy a small batch to start with to see if they've fixed them yet.

Tom

I got a great suggestion from over at Vinyl Asylum: Just fold the corners in on one edge. The sleeves slide in much easier. There are always a few jackets that were manufactured too narrow but for most of them the trick works great.

I'll mention again that the Sleeve City "Ultimate" sleeves could be fantastic and perhaps superior to the MoFi sleeves if they get the design/manufacturing problem fixed. MIGHT be worth a try.

Tom

Hi, Myles. Yes, the flexibility of the HDPE sleeve alone is a drawback. The HDPE sleeves with the paper insert panel(the "Ultimate") sold by Sleeve City would be ideal if the dimensions were corrected. They provide the benefits of the HDPE material with the stiffness of a paper sleeve. I'd buy a bunch of them if their supplier is able to fix the problem of inconsistent sizing.

Tom