Many moons ago, in my series about collectors' nightmares, I wrote about those absolutely annoying American stickers at the top of each CD. I have no idea why they are on there, but I can easily think of reasons. Maybe Americans are so lazy that they need to be able to read the title of the CD from each angle so they don't have to do too much work finding what they are looking for? Maybe a CD is too heavy to be picked up? Or maybe too many people steal stuff and the companies are hoping that sticky tape will deter thieves? Err, think again.
No matter what, those things have always annoyed the hell out of me. I also have to admit that in the beginning I tried to remove them the old-fashioned way, by simply trying to peel them off. If you have ever tried that more than once, you know what happens every single time: The damn thing rips and the rest is even more difficult to get off. It wasn't until someone told me that I should just separate the CD jewelcase that this particular nightmare came to an end.
It's an old trick but since I encounter people time and again who are still fighting those stickers with sheer willpower, I thought I'd add a brief "instruction manual" here for those of you who are still being annoyed by those things. I'll start with a few photos from the livingwithmusic.com gallery (you can also find them there) and then I'll explain it again.
1. Photos
2. Instructions
This is really simple and it's nothing new. There are many places on the Internet where you can find this technique explained and everyone always comes to the conclusion that once you've tried it, it becomes as easy as pie.
So, let's go.
Step 1: Separate the jewelcase by "opening up" the opposite side to the one where the sticker is affixed. You can separate the two jewelcase halves easily by inserting your fingernail at the end of the spine, between lid and tray.
Step 2: Flip the whole thing open as you see in the photos above.
Step 3: Just pull one side of the jewelcase away at an angle. The sticker will come off easily. Best of all, this way they hardly ever rip. I can't even remember if this has ever happened to me since I perfected this technique for myself.
Step 4: Now you have the whole sticker stuck to one side of the jewelcase and ...
Step 5: ... you just need to pull it off and reassemble the jewelcase
That's it.
Done.
Again, I know this is nothing new, but since one of the readers here brought it up in a mail the other day, I thought I would post this manual for him instead of sending him and others who sometimes ask all across the Internet. Still, if you had problems following me up to this point, you might also want to have a look at a video on youtube.com demonstrating the process: "How To: Remove a CD Case Sticker in 40 Seconds (w/one hand)".
In case you have never tried this, have fun perfecting the technique. 30 seconds is actually longer than you should need, even with one hand. :)
No Responses to “Remove those annoying CD stickers!” Leave a reply ›