"Industry Betting on ’Ringle’ Format"

Nine months on, it would appear it's been scrapped, but I don't know for sure. Sure am glad I bought the few ringles I did.

Todd Ireland wrote: So what's the latest with the CD "ringles"? Did these things ever officially get launched, or has Sony and Universal already decided to scrap them?

Funny you should bring this up now, Todd. For the last few weeks, I've been meaning to add an update to this thread, and hadn't yet gotten around to it. Last month I went on a major five-day music-buying trip to NJ & PA, and lo & behold, I stumbled into a mom-&-pop store in your home state of PA that actually had a full custom display of ringles on the front counter near the register! (Apparently they never got the memo last fall that they were supposed to be sent back.) Of course I sifted through them all (they had at least 50), and ended up buying three - all "oldies": "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield, and "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. (The latter is admittedly not among my favorite '80s tunes, but knowing the rarity, I couldn't resist, lol.) They cost me $5.98 each. Also grabbed from the display several copies of the free 5" x 5" flier from Sony/BMG promoting the new format...

So my collection has recently grown, but clearly the format is still dead in the water, as I've seen no new promotion of ringles since the fall. :-( But apparently there are still a few places left out there trying to unload them, although my gut is telling me we've seen the last of any new titles...