In a world where printed media is struggling to cope with the digital age of distribution, companies who survive on this type media are always looking for ways to stay afloat and compete with their online competitors.
We"ve heard for a long time now that hard drives are capable of storing countless bits of information, from book after book to endless libraries of music and video content, and now it seems Playboy Magazine has caught onto the idea too. According to the LA Times, Playboy plans to release every magazine it’s published from 1953 to 2010 in digital form, placing every issue on a 250GB external hard drive. Playboy hopes this archive will increase sales and the popularity of their magazine, as both have been dwindling in recent years.
Playboy hyped the device up with the following statement, “Why would you let more than 650 of your favorite Playmates celebrate the holidays in a damp garage, stashed under your bed or crowded together in the basement, when you can bring them all together beneath the mistletoe this year?" The hard drive will retail for $300 and has 57 years worth of magazines stored.
Playboy has partnered with Bondi Digital Publishing company, who specializes in digital content distribution and will assist in the creation of this magazine archive.
This hasn"t been the first time a media company has distributed mass content via digital form. National Geographic released a hard drive full of 120 years worth of issues, retailing for about $200 last year.
LA Times went on to note that for the past few years, retro items have been Playboy"s largest profit generator.
It still remains to be seen whether or not such a device will help printed media stay a float in this very competitive world of online distribution.