Great idea, I guess: The New Yorker will publish its entire 80-year archives on searchable computer discs this fall, according to NY Times (by way of chron.com).
Quote:
“The collection, The Complete New Yorker, will consist
of eight DVDs containing high-resolution digital images of every page
of the 4,109 issues of the magazine from February 1925 through the 80th
anniversary issue, published last February. Included on the discs will
be ‘every cover, every piece of writing, every drawing, listing,
newsbreak, poem and advertisement.’”
This archival usage a PDF-like-version of a magazine,
sometimes called “digital magazines” is one of those rares cases where
the medium (digital magazines) make sense to me (there are others I’m
sure and if you’re in that business, don’t email me telling me about
them — again).
In the big scheme of things, I wonder how long consumers will be using
the current format of DVD. Libraries will be stuck with them for
decades (they still have really cool microfiche readers I hear), but
having this product on 8 DVDs seems, well, a sure-fire way to make them
apear “quaint” in about a decade or so.
Despite those reservations, I feel certain I’ll get the collection if the pricing is, as predicted, $100.
