- Tapes for anything other than a boombox demo or boombox live set. Have some respect for your music!
- 10" record - annoying to store
- Picture Discs - i hate them!
- printed inner sleeves - stupid and annoying. I'm glad Total Punk never uses them!
- digital download codes - I throw them all out!
7"s with oversized covers/things sticking out of them. at least 10"s will fit in with 12"s. i still don't see why anyone makes them though.
records that don't have the speed and/or sides labeled. or ones where the speed is wrong! special bonus points to the negative approach record that has N on side A and A on side B.
i am convinced that dropdead used to (maybe they still do) make their packaging and format annoying on purpose:
- multiple cds with plain black spines
- the record that plays from the inside out - if your turntable has automatic return you can't play it from the beginning and then there's not a locking groove at the end so your needle will fall right off the record.
i feel like there was more dropdead stuff too but i'm blanking out now.
i don't really like tapes as a format either but considering how much cheaper and quicker it is to get tapes made than records i kind of get it. but cds are even cheaper, faster, and easier to diy and barely anyone will touch those.
Printed inners
Expensive, new releases that use basic white paper inners instead of nicer plastic-lined ones.
Whiplash mailers. Used to like them at first, but they're too big to store and harder to reuse if they get torn or damaged. Do they only exist to make the "bent corner" "split seam" punishers happy?
@sokeripupu Blank labels is a big annoyance for me too. Just put A and B, speed and the track titles. It's especially a pain in the ass for those of us who DJ vinyl and have to mark up the labels ourselves. Otherwise there's nothing like flipping a coin and hoping you're on the right side and at the right speed.
I also hate tapes, yet find myself occasionaly pressing some which in turn makes me hate them more because they suck to ship. 10"s are very confusing to me. They are no cheaper than pressing a 12". For a while Slovenly was doing large hole 10"s which I found doubly annoying. I also hate 7"s with oversized packing. I have a Rebel 7" that just floats around on top of different 7" boxes because of the extra long cover
A/B and speed should be a minimum for center labels
I'll add one more to the "expensive new release/reissue" - I get a lot that are shrinked and don't even come with any sort of insert. $30 retail you can't at least give me a lyric sheet??
@Uptown ruler 666 420 running a record label/ distro is pretty much just catering to the "bent corner, split seam" crowd so yes that is the reason they exist.
I've had a few band ask about printed inner sleeves. I'm also not a fan but on top of that they are rather expensive.
I hate a split 7". Its a format that annoys me even in its digital form. It never feels like a big enough bite from either artist, and it's too short to settle into like you would a compilation.
7" box sets can get fucked too. That dischord one that came out a few years back kind of made sense, but I still hate having to pull the box out, open it up, pull the records out, flip through them like a stack of cards, pick one, pull it out of the sleeve, etc. Not to mention all the potential environmental complaints one could raise (see General Speech's screed on this type of shit).
And, yeah, just tell me what speed to play the record.
Split 7"s made a lot more sense when they were like $3 a pop (talking like until 2005ish). A cheap way to check out 2 unknown bands. I don't think the format makes sense in 2025.
Yeah I hate anniversary or archival reissues that don't include anything in liners. Sure its nice to have it at a better price, but would be nice to have some kind of interview or essay with it.
I also hate the reissuing classic rock/mainstream garbage. Who is asking for a vinyl pressing of Vertical Horizon?
@Luke Henley just carefully squint at the matrix to see what side is etched in there!
or in the case of this clear candy machine single i have, squint to see whether the B in the matrix is backwards or forwards. oh and the sides are different speeds on that one too! cool!
i also really appreciate when bands put track times on the label or cover but i wouldn't expect it. one time the singer from cyanamid sent me a copy of their 7" and wrote all the track times on it (as well as coloring in the cover with crayons) which was a very lovely gesture.
digital download codes - I throw them all out!
Completely useless. Barely anyone uses them.
Labels and Artists charging the same price for digital downloads as for the vinyl. It speaks of a fucking privileged mindset and simply feels like a huge fuck you to poor fellas like me, who want to support bands and labels but can't afford to subsidize everyone's crazy vinyl adventures. Also it sucks balls if you're on a different continent without proper distro. Makes me go like: Fuck that shit i'm gonna get these files from somewhere and that place sure as hell ain't your bandcamp.
Maybe a niche complaint but I wish all LP's had the year they were released/released on the spine. Big in the 70's and then died out.
@Groschi oh man totally. i do a radio show and i can't afford to buy everybody's records but i will download things to play! and if your download is more than 7 bucks or so and doesn't allow me to buy single tracks i'm probably not going to buy it to play on my radio show. i simply can't afford it. if i really want it i'll ask the band/label for it but that's a higher barrier to entry and doesn't always work.
that being said i'm one of those weirdos who does use download codes.
Color vinyl. Black is just cooler.
Regarding downloads, I have been phasing them out with my label, just cause virtually no-one redeems them. With that said, I personally like 'em, cause it enables me to listen to stuff in my car w/o using data.
fuck you guys 10" records rule. next your gonna say that UK cut out 7"s are dumb.
