Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If you're like me... you were debating between these two things. "Concert Ticket Album" (which I'll call "CTA") and "Just the Ticket" ticket organizer (which I'll call "JTT".) Both have great reviews on Amazon. But no reviews comparing them. So... I bought both so that I could report back to you, Gentle Reader. They both aim to accomplish the same thing, and are priced within a dollar of each other. However, there are some differences between the two. I'll lay out those differences here: Form factor: "Just the Ticket" has a thicker width on a bookshelf. Its form factor is a 1.75" binder with rings, whereas the Concert Ticket Album is a skinny bound book about 3/8ths of an inch thick. JTT is labeled on the spine, whereas CTA does not have enough room for words. Size of tickets it will take: JTT has pockets that are 7.5" x 4" and will take tickets up to that size, but a ticket that size would cover up the label portion where you can write notes. So the practical usable size is 5" x 4". CTA's pockets are 5x5" x 2.75"-- that is, more sized for "traditional" tickets like the kind that ticket outlets have sold for years. CTA does have two larger pockets inside the front and rear covers that will hold up to size 6.25" x 4.5"; and JTT has one rear pocket that is about 9" x 6". Quantity of tickets it will hold: Concert Ticket Album has 16 pages, with 3 tickets per side, plus two oversized. So that totals: 16 x 3 x 2 = 96 regular tickets plus two oversized tickets. Just the Ticket has 20 pages with 2 tickets per side, for a total of 80 tickets and no oversized tickets. However, its ring-binder form factor allows you to add additional (refill) pages, so you could have more than 80. JTT has one back accordion pocket that will hold things like playbills. How well it holds tickets: I haven't fully compared, but CTA has smaller pockets and thus tickets would be held snugly. JTT's larger pockets could lead to the tickets sliding around in the pockets a bit. Notes/descriptions: JTT has a place to write notes. CTA, simply, does not. Strength/flimsiness of pages: both have pages that are pretty flexible. When looking at your tickets, you'll need to turn pages carefully because there will be some flexing of the tickets in the pages. Archival quality: who knows. CTA has reviews saying that it did not prevent fading. It does not claim to have acid-free pages. JTT's documentation insert claims to have acid-free pages. Quality and overall "Niceness": CTA has kind of a cool cover, and when closed it is a pretty solid piece. It will definitely protect tickets better than any "old" system (i.e., shoeboxes). JTT's graphics are a little less "concert" looking-- they look like miscellaneous tickets-- and the binding and presentation is nice and doesn't feel cheap. But the pages are a bit flimsier than CTA's. When shut... CTA is really solid. (With the caveat of the pages possibly not being acid-free as described above). JTT seems solid in terms of binding, but the pages are flimsier so they slide around in the binder a bit. *******Note that there ARE reviews for JTT saying it fell apart pretty quickly. CTA is built in a way that it will not do so... it's one piece with bound pages. I'll update my reviews to address the quality as time goes by. CONCLUSION: When I got them, they seemed to be fairly even... kind of a wash. But after comparing them on individual attributes as described above, I'd give the edge to "Just the Ticket" given that the prices are within a dollar of each other. JTT wins out thanks to its expandability, acid-free pages, and a place to write notes. The only area CTA really has it beat is on bookshelf space... it's got a drastically slimmer profile. So if bookshelf space is a big concern for you... CTA is a fine choice. If it isn't, then go with JTT.