The one thing I hate about America

[pozbaird]

I love America. I went on vacation to San Francisco and Boston 15 years ago and fell in love with the place. I've been back every year since - sometimes coming across the pond two or three times a year. Went to Dallas as I'm interested in the Kennedy story, did the Texas Stadium tour (Booo! Damn those arrogant Cowboys!), ate massive steaks and had a ball. Been to New York twice - the people are like Scots from Glasgow - straight talkers and no bull. Went to Washington DC three times. Fantastic. The national mall, Arlington, Georgetown....superb. Went to see the Redskins v Cowboys at FedEx Field (Booo! Damn those hopeless Redskins as they lost again!) New Orleans - great food, did the tour of the Superdome (Booo! Damn those Super Bowl winning Saints!). Orlando, been twice. Las Vegas, been thirteen times, best holiday destination in the world, love it or hate it, I love it. Seattle? Went once, saw the Mariners play in the old Kingdome, and Ken Griffey Jr hit a home run. Chicago, San Diego, Memphis, Nashville, Denver (Booo! Damn those pesky Broncos, no hold on, that's not right!) Did the Invesco Field tour, fell in love with the city and the team. The Broncos became my team forever in May 2009, so I'm a new fan. Philadelphia, Baltimore - been to them too. Liberty Bell, the history....Baltimore Harbour, lovely.

Right, OK, so we've established that I love America. I love your music - Springsteen, REM, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty...the list goes on. I love your movies, American culture influences so much of our lives in the UK....

BUT, America...from sea to shining sea. There's one thing I HATE about you.... What on earth were you thinking when you decided it was a good idea to have those sticky strips right across the top of your CDs? It's a disgrace! Has anyone, anyone at all - in the history of your great nation (well, since CDs were invented) EVER, EVER been able to get their fingernail under the corner of the sticky bit marked 'pull', and actually get the damn thing off in one piece? No. It's impossible. You spend five minutes trying to get the corner picked off enough to be able to grab it between your finger and thumb - then...snap. A little piece comes off, leaving the rest stuck fast. You've waited years for the new Lifehouse CD, it's there in your hands, but you can't get to it. You try again, a bit at a time. The sticky bit has the name of the artist and album on the top white bit, you're so close you can almost hear the music in your head.... but the bloody thing is still stuck fast. Eventually you get one length off - but there's more to go. You try opening the CD jewel case from the bottom, but it bows open, as it's still glued shut at the top. You try to use pressure to make the top sticky strip give way, but BANG! you break the jewel case open after waiting weeks for Amazon to deliver that Lifehouse CD to your door in sunny Scotland. Minutes turn into hours, day turns to night. Eventually you're there - all the sticky top bit is off, and you can listen to the album. Great....aren't Lifehouse a great band, and the album is worth the wait. You put it back in the by now broken into three or more pieces jewel case, and your fingers stick to the residue that you didn't realise was still on the case. It feels horrible, so you start trying to rub it off with your fingers creating friction and heat. Nah, it ain't working - the top of the jewel case is now covered in black sticky gungy bits that just spread out but don't come off. You give up and start searching for a new jewel case to house your new CD, all the time cursing the US of A and their sticky CD strip thingy slapped across the top of every new CD.

America. You guys put men on the moon. What the - is going on?

Obama. One year in - get it fixed.

God Bless America and Go Broncos.

[CinnaMunMun]

They aren't really made to be super easy to remove. The point is to make it difficult enough to open to detract thieves. You would be surprised how many people steal CDs and DVDs.

It is kind of like those "clam shell" plastic packaging you find on stuff. You need a knife or scissors to open it, and even then it doesn't open easy and has sharp edges. Nintendo then got rid of the packaging and replaced it with cardboard. Within days we had a bunch of items stolen because people could quickly tear the bottom off and take what was inside (like Wii remotes) even when the item was on a locking peg hook.

[Andyy_47]

It's so the corporate fat cats can sell you these devices to remove the things for like a dollar each. I bought one in the states from Virgin Megastores, you know the huge one in Downtown Disney in Orlando? Which is now a museum dedicated to Princess Diana

I'll post of a picture of it when I can find my damn phone, but its designed to remove those things, its just a little thing that fits perfectly onto the CD and has a little blade to cut through.

[pozbaird]

They aren't really made to be super easy to remove. The point is to make it difficult enough to open to detract thieves. You would be surprised how many people steal CDs and DVDs.

Surely someone intending to steal a CD from a store in America doesn't actually stand in the store trying to remove that sticky strip just to take the disc from inside the case! They'd be there all day. Surely a thief would just steal the CD, then have hours of fun at home trying to get the sticky strip off without resorting to extreme physical violence?

Boo America, boo!

[andrewmlb]

Surely someone intending to steal a CD from a store in America doesn't actually stand in the store trying to remove that sticky strip just to take the disc from inside the case! They'd be there all day. Surely a thief would just steal the CD, then have hours of fun at home trying to get the sticky strip off without resorting to extreme physical violence?

Boo America, boo!

There is a security sensor in the case. If they remove the sensor, they won't trigger an alarm when leaving the building. That's the only logic I can think of. Mate!!

[PowderAddict]

Surely someone intending to steal a CD from a store in America doesn't actually stand in the store trying to remove that sticky strip just to take the disc from inside the case! They'd be there all day. Surely a thief would just steal the CD, then have hours of fun at home trying to get the sticky strip off without resorting to extreme physical violence?

Boo America, boo!

The funny thing is one of my friends used to manage the electronics section at a Walmart, and people actually do exactly what you describe, quite often. Even with all the security measures, people still do it and get away with it

[chazoe60]

I love America. I went on vacation to San Francisco and Boston 15 years ago and fell in love with the place. I've been back every year since - sometimes coming across the pond two or three times a year. Went to Dallas as I'm interested in the Kennedy story, did the Texas Stadium tour (Booo! Damn those arrogant Cowboys!), ate massive steaks and had a ball. Been to New York twice - the people are like Scots from Glasgow - straight talkers and no bull. Went to Washington DC three times. Fantastic. The national mall, Arlington, Georgetown....superb. Went to see the Redskins v Cowboys at FedEx Field (Booo! Damn those hopeless Redskins as they lost again!) New Orleans - great food, did the tour of the Superdome (Booo! Damn those Super Bowl winning Saints!). Orlando, been twice. Las Vegas, been thirteen times, best holiday destination in the world, love it or hate it, I love it. Seattle? Went once, saw the Mariners play in the old Kingdome, and Ken Griffey Jr hit a home run. Chicago, San Diego, Memphis, Nashville, Denver (Booo! Damn those pesky Broncos, no hold on, that's not right!) Did the Invesco Field tour, fell in love with the city and the team. The Broncos became my team forever in May 2009, so I'm a new fan. Philadelphia, Baltimore - been to them too. Liberty Bell, the history....Baltimore Harbour, lovely.

Right, OK, so we've established that I love America. I love your music - Springsteen, REM, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty...the list goes on. I love your movies, American culture influences so much of our lives in the UK....

BUT, America...from sea to shining sea. There's one thing I HATE about you.... What on earth were you thinking when you decided it was a good idea to have those sticky strips right across the top of your CD's? It's a disgrace! Has anyone, anyone at all - in the history of your great nation (well, since CD's were invented) EVER, EVER been able to get their fingernail under the corner of the sticky bit marked 'pull', and actually get the damn thing off in one piece? No. It's impossible. You spend five minutes trying to get the corner picked off enough to be able to grab it between your finger and thumb - then...snap. A little piece comes off, leaving the rest stuck fast. You've waited years for the new Lifehouse CD, it's there in your hands, but you can't get to it. You try again, a bit at a time. The sticky bit has the name of the artist and album on the top white bit, you're so close you can almost hear the music in your head.... but the bloody thing is still stuck fast. Eventually you get one length off - but there's more to go. You try opening the CD jewel case from the bottom, but it bows open, as it's still glued shut at the top. You try to use pressure to make the top sticky strip give way, but BANG! you break the jewel case open after waiting weeks for Amazon to deliver that Lifehouse CD to your door in sunny Scotland. Minutes turn into hours, day turns to night. Eventually you're there - all the sticky top bit is off, and you can listen to the album. Great....aren't Lifehouse a great band, and the album is worth the wait. You put it back in the by now broken into three or more pieces jewel case, and your fingers stick to the residue that you didn't realise was still on the case. It feels horrible, so you start trying to rub it off with your fingers creating friction and heat. Nah, it ain't working - the top of the jewel case is now covered in black sticky gungy bits that just spread out but don't come off. You give up and start searching for a new jewel case to house your new CD, all the time cursing the US of A and their sticky CD strip thingy slapped across the top of every new CD.

America. You guys put men on the moon. What the - is going on?

Obama. One year in - get it fixed.

God Bless America and Go Broncos.

I was tensed and ready to defend this great nation's honor against what I assumed was going to be a vicious, and unwarranted attack but I totally agree with you. Those damn stickers are a less frustrating version of a bra on prom-night. Just delaying inevitable gratification.

But, it's not just the stickers on CDs it's the trend that packaging for everything is going. Have any of you fine people attempted to open a child's toy in recent years? You need an Oxygen and Acetylene setup or at a minimum a sharp scalpel.

[pozbaird]

I was tensed and ready to defend this great nation's honor against what I assumed was going to be a vicious, and unwarranted attack but I totally agree with you. Those damn stickers are a less frustrating version of a bra on prom-night. Just delaying inevitable gratification.

But, it's not just the stickers on CDs it's the trend that packaging for everything is going. Have any of you fine people attempted to open a child's toy in recent years? You need an Oxygen and Acetylene setup or at a minimum a sharp scalpel.

Never mind CDs and toys - have you ever seen a Scotsman trying to open his wallet?

[elecshoc]

And that's why I carry a folding pocket knife. Never know when you'll end up in a situation where you need a knife.

[licence_to_kill]

Better question

Who the hell still buys CD's?

[CTM]

Better question

Who the hell still buys CD's?

Lol


BOOOM!

Nice.

Itunes is where its at people.

[Frenchy180]

The one thing I've noticed doesn't have those is wii games lol

[pozbaird]

Better question

Who the hell still buys CD's?

I still buy them for the bands I really like and have their entire collection. Let's just choose one of my many favourite bands, erm, let's go for Rush. I first saw them live in 1977 and they've been a favourite ever since. I've got their entire collection on CD, but there are a lot of tracks I'm not fussed on. Taking the Rush CD collection I have put all my favourites into iTunes on my Mac, also into my iPod, and I have burned a couple of 'Best of' CDs for listening to in the car. It's not stretching the imagination to say that my iPod could go faulty and die a death, and I simply wouldn't like to have my entire music collection as MP3 files on a computer. I still like to have a physical object, with sleeve notes, pictures, and it is a real entity. My CD collection is still the 'backbone' of my music, as I say, I take it from the CDs and put it here, there, and everywhere. I hope music in some format you can actually buy and hold and look at never dies.

[Flatlander Fan]

I don't know what's funnier - the original rant to start this thread or the serious discussion that has followed it!

Been too long since I've checked things out around here. Nice to see things haven't changed too much in the past couple months.

[chazoe60]

I don't know what's funnier - the original rant to start this thread or the serious discussion that has followed it!

Been too long since I've checked things out around here. Nice to see things haven't changed too much in the past couple months.

Who are you again?