Japanese 3″ Snap-Pack CD Singles: All You Need To Know – Watch Our Video

What’s a “snap pack” you might ask?

These are a unique form of Japanese packaging to house Japanese 3″ CD singles and come from the word “tanazaku” meaning ‘long strip of paper’. Formed from a standard 6″ x 3″ card sleeve, this is folded over a (relatively flimsy it has to be said) plastic frame; this frame holds the 3″ CD single in place. The outer part of the frame can be “snapped” down to make a smaller 3″ x 3″ size pack, and the sleeve is designed to be folded and tucked around it. There’s your ‘snap’ package.  Their unique design means you can choose to keep them intact, or ‘snap’ the pack and display one like a picture, if you get the picture.

The last one of its generation made its royal appearance in 2004 as Queen’s I Was Born To Love You.

For collectors, unsnapped packs are obviously the most desirable but many Japanese collectors did as the package suggested and snapped these frames so they could store their CDs in a more compact way.  This doesn’t necessarily mean they are less desirable to collectors but they often command a slightly lower price simply because they aren’t in their unadulterated form.  We will always mention if a pack has been ‘snapped’ in our description.

3″ CD singles will play in any CD player that has a shallow indent to the centre of the sliding CD tray. But no popping them into your car CD player, you’ll likely to never see it again.

They should be treasured and sung along to, hence the lyrics on the back of nearly all the packs. The Japanese love a bit of karoake.

Find all our current stock here– perfect Christmas Gift ideas too for the avid collector!

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