Everything I see for industry standard - whether its a CD or a DVD talks about a digibook as having a hard cover / bound spine.
So going with consensus here from a few different websites you can read at your leisure - they also talk about adding an "optional booklet".
Here's one that appears to be quite technical in nature -
http://digi-pack.net/en/a5-digi-book
A5 Digi Book - is the result of the evolution of the Digi Pack package family, the main feature of which as the name suggests is image of the book. In addition to this, the similarity with the book is achieved by using the tray of A5 format. Now the top cover A5 Digi Book is made not only of cellulose but also of bookbinding cardboard whereby the package is more solid and sturdy.
First of all I'm sorry for getting a little annoyed at the very least but I'm a big fan of digipak's and not so much of digibook's and for some reason it seems that most people don't feel the same. Which is fine but when you/they start to call digipak's for digibook's it does get on my nerves a little. As a digipak fan I'd like to keep the few digipak's there is as digipak's and not have them changed to digibook's because of it's popularity and because the sequel is getting a digibook so let's just call them both digibook's.
Enough ranting let's get to the facts so to speak.
You seem to feel that the main part of a digibook is not the book part, the actual pages, but rather the hard cover or bound spine. If my understanding of a bound spine is correct this does not have one. And because there's no pics and only a video which to me doesn't show particularly hard covers, rather thick cardboard which is nothing new when it comes to digipak's, it's hard to argue wether or not this does or doesn't have hard covers.
To me a book means pages and just a front and back cover no middle part to fold out which this does have.
I suppose there are books that has that but I think you'd agree that books generally don't have more than a front and back cover. And also pages of course...
But I'll agree that even if it doesn't have pages but does have a bound spine it's more of a digibook than a digipak but it's hard to really make a clear distinction in those cases.
apsmith21 said:
Here are a couple others - what is a digibook -
http://www.newcyberian.com/blog/2012/10/15/what-is-digibook/
The hardcover of the digibook, about 3mm to 4mm thick, serves as a good protection to both the CD and the booklet. You can have the option to choose semi-glossy, matte, and super glossy paper stock. Because digibook is quite unique when compared with other packaging options, our clients tend to use digibook as a high end collectible item.
This link shows and mentions pages several times and doesn't really back up your claim imo.
apsmith21 said:
Hybrid Media Solutions -
http://hybridmedia-solutions.co.za/our_products/digibook/4pp_cd.php
CD and DVD Digibooks come with a hard cover (book cover) and can be customized to fit any size. This is a very durable product and can be optimized with any kind of print finish and booklet insertion. Contact us for more information on this exciting product.
Again this doesn't mention anything other than hard cover which to me this doesn't have based on the video I've seen.
It seems to have a thick cardboard which according to your first link is something both digibook's and digipak's can have.
digibook said:
Material - Cellulose cardboard grammage 280-350
http://digi-pack.net/en/dvd-digi-pack
digipak said:
Material - Cellulose cardboard of single or double coating grammage 200-350
To me thick cardboard and hard covers are very different and if the way we're going to classify between digipak's and digibook's we have to measure the thickness and weight of the material, we've gone too far.
It shouldn't be that hard. A book has pages in it, a bound spine and/or a hard cover and a digipak can have thick cardboad but no bound spine and often is more than just a front and back cover but not always.
But even the part about pages making it a digibook it up for debate because the first site you linked to wrote the following:
Fixing of the booklet
There are also DVD Digi Pack by method of fastening the printing insert or booklet. It can be attached to an empty DVD Digi Pack page that is stuck together in a special way - the Sleeve. It may simply be glued into the page - Bonding. It can be placed in a specially carved for this slot - Piercing or placed in a specially prepared for this lapel - Pocket.
But I agree that it's much easier to just call it a digibook if it has pages glued to it like for instance the Only God Forgives german digibook has.
apsmith21 said:
I don't think it's 100%, there is a grey area as I mentioned, as our grouping and general pattern on this forum shows items with printed material or photos - a booklet inside - but lets have a conversation about this and come to a conclusion rather than just getting angry for no reason.
Like I said earlier, I'm sorry for coming across as at the very least, annoyed.
I would very much like to have a conversation about this as I feel quite strongly that the decision you've made is the wrong one based on the facts that are presented to me.
apsmith21 said:
I can say for certain, the Wolverine digipack I got at Best Buy is quite flimsy to this edition in comparison and doesn't have the same hard spine to it.
The Wolverine digipak does look really flimsy but 1 occurence doesn't make it a rule. I don't know if you have any digipak's in your collection but from my experience very few are like the Wolverine digipak which I passed on mostly because it looked so flimsy. A very poor digipak to me but a digipak nonetheless.
Here's a few examples:
House Of Flying Daggers
Has hard covers and bound spine but no pages. I personally see it more as a digipak but I can see this being classified as a digibook.
Billy Elliot
The exact same thing as House Of Flying Daggers.
And might I add that these are by HDN considered digipak's. The reason I got for them being digipak's and not digibook's were that there's no pages.
Sin City
This has hard cover's but it's got more than just the front and back cover and is refered to as a digipak. Released by Green Nare Media.
Here's a few more from Green Nare Media:
Serendipity
Jackie Brown
Reservoir Dogs
Malena
This one's from not from Green Nare Media but it's the same format:
Kill Bill
Taxi Driver
Hard cover, no pages and no bound spine yet it's been classified as a digipak since 2011.
All of these have hard covers, no bound spine and no pages and more than just the front and back cover and are by HDN, Kimchi, Green Nare Media, myself and many other users considered a digipak.
From what I can see all of those examples have a hard cover unlike what Hunger Games have and are considered digipak's. So please explain why Hunger Games is a digibook?
My personally theory is that digibook's are more popular and Hungers Games is a popular franchise so this release was
changed to digibook from digipak after being digipak for over 1 year.
It doesn't add up to me...
As you might be able to tell it matter's quite a bit to wether or not this and other's like it is considered a digipak or a digibook.
)
