Jazz and rock compact disks that come in cardboard jackets mimicking those of the long-playing records of yore are creating a boom among nostalgic buyers in their 30s and 40s as record companies rush to revive great recordings of the past.
The jackets are made of sturdy paper and wrapped in vinyl, just like an LP. If the original LP cover opened like a book, so does the one for the CD, and if there was an advertisement on a strip of paper, that also can be reproduced.
The "Japanese Paper Sleeve Exploration Party" Web site, which provides information on everything anyone might want to know about the record jackets, is proving popular, getting about 3,000 hits a day. It is run by two men in their 40s, one a company owner and the other a corporate manager.