I'm with you. I don't mind the change to slimpak cases so much as I'm annoyed with the step down in outer packaging. The 3rd season sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the first two seasons! I want the nice foil covers back. :(

Yes!!! This is my biggest complaint as well. The outer packaging just looks so dull compared to the prior seasons. The foil covers really look great. Imagine how great the red highlights on the current set could look...

On a side note, I don't mind the slim-cases. In fact, I think they are great with certain sets, e.g. Futurama. However, the main advantage of the slim-cases, I always thought, was supposed to be that they take up less shelf space, but the overall packaging on The Shield season 3 is actually larger than the prior seasons.

I always hated the digipaks, especially when it came to sets like 24 S2 and its 7 discs. It's like you need a degree in origami just to get to the damn booklet. But...the digipak packaging allowed for all sorts of cool artwork (I love the Illyria/Fred foldout in the Angel S5 set) that you can't get with the slim cases. Overall, I'm still happier with the slim cases, but I like the book format (Alias S3, the Freaks and Geeks retail edition) the best.

I think "The O.C." did the book format as well. I would have no problem is 24 decided to switch to that...but no slim cases please!

I'm happy we got the Angel & Buffy sets completed before the switchover. I like the continuity myself.

I like the way Anchor Bay does the slim cases. They put 2 discs in each. Saves a lot of space.

Fox did that with Wonderfalls. I think that's a good way to go for hour-long shows, but not something like Arrested Development (there'd be no room on the back of the case for all the episode descriptions).