Review by mini-LP junkie

Help! I need somebody to punish Universal Music Japan. Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often already know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

While the plastic is of good quality, the size fits better Italian Akarma mini-LPs that are a tiny bit larger and somewhat thicker than most of the Japanese cardboard sleeve CDs. The major problem wih these covers, however, is they have the adhesive strip on the flap. Exercise care when taking the papersleeve out of this protector, as the adhesive can easily stick to the cardboard (let alone to your fingers). The risk of ruining the inserts when taking them out of the cardboard sleeve with the plastic cover on is even higher. There are other Japanese-made mini-LP resealable covers on the market, that are not only 1-2 mm smaller in size but, most importantly, have the adhesive strip on the back, not on the flap. Try those and you'll see (and greatly appreciate!) the difference.