"Manipulation CDs Box Set" by Live Magic
Suggested Retail USD$45.00 (standard) and USD$75.00 (Deluxe)
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

The "Manipulation CDs Box Set", designed by Adrian Man and produced by Live Magic, is the perfect collection of fake CDs to use with Man's excellent "Laser Anywhere" CD manipulation discs.

Yes, the CDs are fake. Really fake. But they look very, very real and will be seen by audiences as being the real deal.

The first thing you notice about these CDs is the thickness. As it says on the box, you're dealing with CDs that are .6mm thick. That's about half the thickness of a regular CD. That right there makes them perfect for stage manipulations (if you have doubts, go by a deck of manipulation cards, which are about a third the thickness of a regular playing card -- it's amazing what a little slimming will do to manipulation work).

But, as is typical with Man's thinking, there's more to the story than just one feature.

The "Manipulation CDs" also have a larger hole in the center more suitable to the thumb than to a spindle. This allows some of the handlings Man is so fond of to be done much simpler and more convincingly.

Also thinking ahead, Man designed these discs so that one side is the reflective mirror finish, as you'd expect from a real CD, but the reverse side is colored a flat black. This allows for a bit of black-art work; if wearing dark clothing, the CD becomes much harder, if not downright impossible, to see.

Lastly, the "Manipulation CDs" are more flexible than regular discs. Needless to say, we're back into the territory of Making Things Easier and that added flexibility really makes palming them a breeze.

The "Manipulation CDs Box Set" comes in two flavors: standard and deluxe. The only difference in the two is the number of discs you receive; the discs are the same high-quality, well-designed gaffs that the serious CD manipulator needs.

And "needs" is the right word here. If you're into CD manipulation, if you've gotten "Laser Anywhere" and the bug bit you, you really do need these discs. They are so much easier to handle, made so specifically for sleight work, they will save you a great deal of time and effort over using regular CDs.

Shane