has anyone else noticed the quality gets worse with each season? season five doesn't even have scene selection chapter markers! Also, no two sets are alike- very dissappointing indeed.
Regardless, my dream of owning every single (old) columbo episode is about to come true, so I can't be too unhappy.

They're probably waiting for the inevitable Special Edition/Double-dip release next year. Already Amazon has dropped the prices from $30US bucks to 20 on all but S6/S7.

Yup, marketing is everything (to retailers), and I would have been more consistent (and realistic) about design and cover art, but I'm satisfied to have the very best of Columbo on DVD.

The thing that bothers me is that no matter how respectfully you handle these shards of plastic, someone had to know that most of us would end-up replacing them anyway.

That's why DVD discs weren't encased in plastic cases (like VHS tape) to preserve and protect the media from damaging exposure (and recorder/players weren't built to accommodate them), even though they started out that way before the format was introduced to Joe (bottomless pit) consumer.