One thing that I want to throw out there is that beside the music, I hope the change to Inside Out will bring a new approach also to the actual booklet and packaging.
A Dramatic Turn of Events was just fine, it was the standard case, no big deal.
Dream Theater, at least in my stores, came with the digipack version, two discs included, AND the booklet glued to the case. You wanna go through the booklet? get the whole package.
Then came The Astonishing: once again the booklet is glued to the package, and on top of that, on the inlay there are white credits on a basically white backgrounds, and the lyrics are written in small and generic Arial (or something very similar) font. Why lord why? with such a gorgeous album a little part of the pleasure is also to take off the booklet, read the lyrics as you listen to the songs, even just read the lyrics period for a quick trip down memory lane (am I the only one that occasionally takes off the booklet of an album to go through it and just have a general memory of what the album is like going quickly through the lyrics?).
I basically never, ever read The Astonishing lyrics holding the actual CD package, which I actually bought of course, in my hands. I've bought something and the label packaged it in a way that made me lose interest in actually holding it in my hands, and considering how I ripped the music on my computer, I guess I can safely say that I barely ever touched the CD (which, again, I actually bought). The only interaction I had with the physical copy was whenever I was listening to it in my car (old car, no mp3 player), otherwise, it was always mp3 player or PC speakers AND the lyrics off the internet.
I hope the next album will be something good to look at and to hold in your hands, and with a free booklet.