Yes, and replace it with a clear plastic sleeve.
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Hi I ordered the Sade box set for my wife’s birthday last year. The records arrived in terrible scratched condition due to the cheap cardboard sleeves they used. I sent it back straight away and my record dealer sent me back a brand new one with all the records checked and in Mofi sleeves. I always buy locally if I can when buying box sets or expensive records. Just ordered MK new box set and The the Come back special. I have sent records back to Amazon but have noticed if its from Amazon overseas, it takes ages to get a refund as it is not refunded until its sent back to its original location. I only buy locally from Amazon
. Good Luck
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I do the same. In the case of shrink-wrapped LPs, remove shrink and replace with a resealable Blake style outer sleeve. I also either peel off the hype sticker and transfer to the Blake sleeve or else just cut it out and slip it inside the new sleeve.
Some vinyl LPs already come in resealable Blake sleeves, which is nice - Music on Vinyl being one such, Impex being another.
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There was some threads on that, like “vinyl quality 2020”, “ flat vinyl where is it”.
As I buy >95% of my records as original from the 70’s, or good audiophile remasters as MOFI or Analogue Productions, I don’t have this problem.
That’s pretty bad, oddly I’ve found on some LPs that visual scuffs don’t necessarily translate to audible pops and clicks.
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Any recommendations for outer sleeves? Just found some that are cheaper than I expected by Spincare.
I’ve tended to avoid them in the past, but have only recently started wondering if the ‘protective’ shrink wrap was causing problems.
Yup, I like “Blake” sleeves with a sealed flap. They usually come in at least two sizes - slightly larger to accommodate double albums - and are available from various sellers online for around £20 per 100.
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Here’s one from a seller called Vinyl Destination - you can see that I have peeled the hype sticker off the shrink and replaced it onto the outer Blake sleeve;
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So these are thin resealable sleeves rather than the thick clear sleeves of yesteryear?
I think I had a few Steven Wilson LPs that came in these kind of outer sleeves.
Yes, they’re thin and crystal clear. Having used all the other types over the years, these are my favourites by far. These ones have the adhesive edge on the actual sleeve rather than the flap. Avoid any that have it on the flap as it tends to then try to stick to the inner when you slide it out. You can also buy them without any flap, but I like to seal up the entire LP when not taking the inner out our putting it back in.
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Mmm
I like using matching pegs when putting out items of clothing.
But even I don’t carefully remove and keep the hype sticker!
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Often I just cut it out and place it inside, but some hype stickers peel off easily, so…
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Thanks for the info.
I think I’ve had a few albums with adhesive on the flap too - tricky to get album out without it sticking to the cover so adhesive on the sleeve seems to be a must.
I wasn’t aware you could buy these thin sleeves, only the old thick PVC (I assume) types which often seemed to ‘stick’ to the LP cover. These thin types seem fairly cost effective too.
Can’t find that specific supplier but I sem to have inadvertently changed by search engine.
Why use outer sleeves? I removed all of old ones and store my LPs in shelves just in their cardboard sleeves. It’s much tidier and makes them easier to open and look at them etc.
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I used to hate it when stores put stickers with the price on LP covers directly, especially for sales - it was always a gamble if you could peel it off without damaging the cover or leaving a discoloured circle.
The ‘official’ stickers I used to leave on, have always wondered what to do with the stickers on shrink wrap.
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Cos they end up looking like the records in the $5 bin in a second hand shop
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That’s what I’ve traditionally done, but did have some in an alcove once which was part of an outer wall, and a few got a bit damp.
The worst thing that happened was when I was renting a flat in the 90’s, had LPs on shelves next to the rear door of the living area where I had my LP12 - a cat came in and decided to use the bottom shelf of 50 LPs as a scratchpad, so there were scratches/gouges on the spines of maybe 30. I was not amused. From memory many were probably more novelty/naff secondhand LPs, but not all 
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@Alley_Cat , I’ve had a few new albums of late that have been below par and it is very frustrating indeed, the worse case being a copy of an Abbey Road remaster of Wings first album, where the disc was badly warped, there was an audible scratch across side 1, and embedded debris in side 2, making it totally unplayable. The second copy had terrible surface noise (post three cleaning passes) and at that point I gave up and returned it.
Likewise, I retain the outer hype sticker and re-sleeve them in a Blake style sleeve. The ones from Packlinq are very reasonably priced, but the new-ish range from ‘Vinyl Storage Solutions’ in Canada look like they could be the very best quality out there - he’s really done a deep dive into the best archive materials and construction techniques. I’ll be ordering from him once my Packlinq pile are used up.
@Mike_S . Re sealable plastic sleeves obviously help keep card outers in great shape, but they also help keeping moisture (as Alley_Cat states) and dust at bay.
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After 30 years of not buying Vinyl, I have come back into the fold and have bought about 110 new albums over the last 6 months. I’ve only sent 3 back, 2 of which were the coloured vinyl for Dylans last album. I have another 2 that are quite warped but playable so overall I’m pretty happy with vinyl and find a lot on heavy vinyl, minimal clicks & pops with good gatefolds etc so don’t buy into the quality of new vinyl is poor.
I’ve been throwing away any outer sticker’s and just replace the inner with a anti-static, I have not bought any outer sleeves as I buy vinyl to just enjoy and don’t care if they get a few marks as they are just for my enjoyment.
However, I do have to carry out some research whenever I do buy new vinyl which I never do with downloads or CD’s so it differently takes a lot more time up but I’m learning all the time.
I was in HMV the other day and could’t believe the amount of people looking at the Vinyl isles while the CD aisles were empty. How long will this last?
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I’ve noticed the same - I think it just goes back to us enjoying browsing through racks of LPs, though my HMV store stuffs far troo many in a rack making this far more difficult.
I just don’t think CDs or downloads lend themselves to browsing as easily as the larger format LPs - cover art is also an appeal for many of us I suspect, I certainly buy certain things on a whim if I like the cover art.
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