Philosophy
This is a good idea but as the article notes...individuals will buy time only for the specific article wanted. I have been looking for certain issues from the Fall of 1967.
Playboy launched a Web-based subscription service Thursday called i.Playboy.com that allows viewers to see every page of every magazine — from the first issue nearly 60 years ago that featured Marilyn Monroe to those hitting newsstands today.
"They no longer have to store 57 years — 682 issues — of Playboy under their mattress," said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy's chief content officer.
Chicago-based Playboy has seen its circulation plummet from 3.15 million in 2006 to 1.5 million today and has been trying all sorts of gimmicks to attract readers. One issue, for example, included a set of 3-D glasses to see a centerfold shot in 3-D; another turned over the cover to a cartoon character, Marge Simpson.
But if those moves were widely viewed as efforts to attract a younger audience, this one is also aimed baby boomers and even their parents, who might recall pictorials of long gone movie stars, interviews with John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King and the time Jimmy Carter famously revealed the lust in his heart.
And for those who have claimed they bought the magazine for the articles, the online service also offers a way to look at the works of such writers as John Updike, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter Thompson and Norman Mailer.
Jellinek is optimistic people will pony up $8 a month or $60 a year for a service that's "meant to appeal to that sense of collective nostalgia and affinity." He calls the website "the world's sexiest time machine" and "an anthology of cool" for a magazine he refers to as "the Mount Rushmore of literary greatness."
But one industry analyst makes Playboy sound more like a tired, dusty half-empty amusement park.
"The problem with Playboy is it not only lost its powerful interviews, but it lost its lead," said Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism. "This is no longer the 50s and 60s, when people talked about the interviews. And who cannot see the girl next door naked in this day and age?"
Husni doubts the service will do much for the company.
"The questions are: 'Do I need it? Do I want it? Is it relevant to me?'" Husni said. "The answer is: 'No, no and no.'"
Husni also said it is likely those who do subscribe will drop the service once they see whatever issues they were curious about.
Jellinek concedes the project is something of an experiment aimed at a niche audience, but he also insists the service has value because it offers a unique window into the past.
"We're not trying to achieve mass scale here and move the needle for the company in a great way," he said.
Down at Stocks and Blondes, a tavern in downtown Chicago, opinions were mixed.
"The guy who would want to go back and see them (the magazines) already has them stacked up in his crawl space," said Internet ad salesman Bill Youngberg.
But his buddy, Ron Golminas, suggested such a guy is precisely the person who would jump — if he could — at the chance to subscribe.
"He can't get to them," Golminas said. "He's too old."
- Hanging On To The Past...hugh Hefner Has Not Changed
Those days are gone. Hugh Hefner and Barbi Benton "Hugh Hefner's Final Political Crusade? Ageism" by Amanda Hess March 22nd, 2013 Slate Change comes slow to the Playboy Mansion. When Hugh Hefner’s rugs wear through, “the replacements are...
- The Demise Of Playboy?
December 1953 "Playboy goes west" Is the Midwest’s only great magazine heading into the sunset? by Rachel Shteir April 25th, 2012 Prospect At 7pm on the evening of 12th April in Chicago, about 20 people were gathered inside the Gold Star Sardine Bar,...
- Deceased--bob Guccione
Bob Guccione December 17th, 1930 to October 20th, 2010 Bob Guccione...opposite end to the elite Playboy. Money and the sexual revolution allowed Bob Guccione's Penthouse magazine to prosper. Near clinical gynecological home entertainment and robust...
- Hugh Hefner...a Documentary Film
Hugh has been big news the past few months...the cultural icon is hanging on and maybe making a return? "A Hugh Hefner Documentary: Airbrushed" by Richard Corliss July 31st, 2010 Time Gene Simmons, Kiss front man, gets the first quote: "Show me any...
- Porn Wars...84 And Pursuing Complete Control
"Hefner's move to take Playboy Enterprises private could put it in play" Founder of the struggling adult publishing empire, in an effort to reassert control, proposes to buy all outstanding shares he doesn't own. But rival Penthouse's owner...
Philosophy
Back issues of "Playboy" now online...for a price of course
This is a good idea but as the article notes...individuals will buy time only for the specific article wanted. I have been looking for certain issues from the Fall of 1967.
"Playboy puts all 57 years of its magazines online"
by
Don Babwin
May 19th, 2011
Associated Press
by
Don Babwin
May 19th, 2011
Associated Press
Playboy launched a Web-based subscription service Thursday called i.Playboy.com that allows viewers to see every page of every magazine — from the first issue nearly 60 years ago that featured Marilyn Monroe to those hitting newsstands today.
"They no longer have to store 57 years — 682 issues — of Playboy under their mattress," said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy's chief content officer.
Chicago-based Playboy has seen its circulation plummet from 3.15 million in 2006 to 1.5 million today and has been trying all sorts of gimmicks to attract readers. One issue, for example, included a set of 3-D glasses to see a centerfold shot in 3-D; another turned over the cover to a cartoon character, Marge Simpson.
But if those moves were widely viewed as efforts to attract a younger audience, this one is also aimed baby boomers and even their parents, who might recall pictorials of long gone movie stars, interviews with John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King and the time Jimmy Carter famously revealed the lust in his heart.
And for those who have claimed they bought the magazine for the articles, the online service also offers a way to look at the works of such writers as John Updike, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut, Hunter Thompson and Norman Mailer.
Jellinek is optimistic people will pony up $8 a month or $60 a year for a service that's "meant to appeal to that sense of collective nostalgia and affinity." He calls the website "the world's sexiest time machine" and "an anthology of cool" for a magazine he refers to as "the Mount Rushmore of literary greatness."
But one industry analyst makes Playboy sound more like a tired, dusty half-empty amusement park.
"The problem with Playboy is it not only lost its powerful interviews, but it lost its lead," said Samir Husni, director of the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi School of Journalism. "This is no longer the 50s and 60s, when people talked about the interviews. And who cannot see the girl next door naked in this day and age?"
Husni doubts the service will do much for the company.
"The questions are: 'Do I need it? Do I want it? Is it relevant to me?'" Husni said. "The answer is: 'No, no and no.'"
Husni also said it is likely those who do subscribe will drop the service once they see whatever issues they were curious about.
Jellinek concedes the project is something of an experiment aimed at a niche audience, but he also insists the service has value because it offers a unique window into the past.
"We're not trying to achieve mass scale here and move the needle for the company in a great way," he said.
Down at Stocks and Blondes, a tavern in downtown Chicago, opinions were mixed.
"The guy who would want to go back and see them (the magazines) already has them stacked up in his crawl space," said Internet ad salesman Bill Youngberg.
But his buddy, Ron Golminas, suggested such a guy is precisely the person who would jump — if he could — at the chance to subscribe.
"He can't get to them," Golminas said. "He's too old."
- Hanging On To The Past...hugh Hefner Has Not Changed
Those days are gone. Hugh Hefner and Barbi Benton "Hugh Hefner's Final Political Crusade? Ageism" by Amanda Hess March 22nd, 2013 Slate Change comes slow to the Playboy Mansion. When Hugh Hefner’s rugs wear through, “the replacements are...
- The Demise Of Playboy?
December 1953 "Playboy goes west" Is the Midwest’s only great magazine heading into the sunset? by Rachel Shteir April 25th, 2012 Prospect At 7pm on the evening of 12th April in Chicago, about 20 people were gathered inside the Gold Star Sardine Bar,...
- Deceased--bob Guccione
Bob Guccione December 17th, 1930 to October 20th, 2010 Bob Guccione...opposite end to the elite Playboy. Money and the sexual revolution allowed Bob Guccione's Penthouse magazine to prosper. Near clinical gynecological home entertainment and robust...
- Hugh Hefner...a Documentary Film
Hugh has been big news the past few months...the cultural icon is hanging on and maybe making a return? "A Hugh Hefner Documentary: Airbrushed" by Richard Corliss July 31st, 2010 Time Gene Simmons, Kiss front man, gets the first quote: "Show me any...
- Porn Wars...84 And Pursuing Complete Control
"Hefner's move to take Playboy Enterprises private could put it in play" Founder of the struggling adult publishing empire, in an effort to reassert control, proposes to buy all outstanding shares he doesn't own. But rival Penthouse's owner...