Price : Too low to display
Every issue of Playboy Magazine on a pocket-sized aluminum 250GB hard drive with additional 200Gb available for your personal files.
Use it at home or traveling anywhere you can find a Mac or PC. Hot-swappable USB bus powered portable hard-drive (no AC adaptor required), install the Playboy Cover to Cover program, and begin reading. You will have immediate access to every page of every issue.
It's all here: from that first treasured issue featuring Marilyn Monroe in December 1953, all the way to the December 2009 issue, featuring Chelsea Handler, and every issue in between. That's 56 incredible years of Playboy, over 650 issues, and more than 100,000 pages, all at your fingertips.
This high-performance, rugged aluminum hard drive measures a tiny 3" x 5" inches, and easily fits inside a briefcase or jacket pocket. Plus, there are over 200GBs of extra room on the drive to store anything else you'd like.
Package includes:
Portable 250GB USB 2.5 inch Hard Drive with 200GB Free Space. Mini USB to USB cable. 1 Year Warranty Hard Drive
Specifications:
Hard Disk Drive: 2.5 inch Hard Disk Drive Interface: Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and 1.1 Capacity: 250GB Spindle Speed: 5,400 RPM Performance: Up to 480Mb/second Power: USB Bus Powered (no AC adapter required) MAC Minimum System Requirements: USB 1.1 port (Hi-Speed USB 2.0 recommended for faster transfer) USB Mac OSX 10.4 or later 512 MB RAM required (1GB recommended) 750 MB available hard drive space Color monitor with at least 1024 x 768 resolution To print: laser or ink jet printer To access software update feature: Internet access WINDOWS Minimum System Requirements: USB 1.1 port (Hi-Speed USB 2.0 recommended for faster transfer) Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4 with Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4 KB891861) XP (Service Pack 2 required) 512 MB RAM required (1GB recommended) 750 MB available hard drive space Color monitor with at least 1024 x 768 resolution.
PC-Mac
This review is from : Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010
Welcome to the 21st century. . That's exactly what went through my mind when I received this item. It was delivered very quickly, and the installation software was very simple to get through. All it took was plugging in the 2 USB cables and I had over 50 years of Playboy at my fingertips. Once I had everything installed, I decided to look through a few old Hemingway articles and got completely lost in them for at least an hour.
The extra space available on the hard drive is roughly 235 GB, which is nice. I've put some music on it and I have it with me at all times in my laptop case. The Bondi software, is wonderful, and very easy to navigate. I'm going to make a point of checking out the National Geographic hard drive they make as well.
I think this hard drive is totally worth the price, considering the amount of time you can sit and just read the old articles and look through the ages at how our perception of beauty has changed.
Welcome to the 21st century. . That's exactly what went through my mind when I received this item. It was delivered very quickly, and the installation software was very simple to get through. All it took was plugging in the 2 USB cables and I had over 50 years of Playboy at my fingertips. Once I had everything installed, I decided to look through a few old Hemingway articles and got completely lost in them for at least an hour.
The extra space available on the hard drive is roughly 235 GB, which is nice. I've put some music on it and I have it with me at all times in my laptop case. The Bondi software, is wonderful, and very easy to navigate. I'm going to make a point of checking out the National Geographic hard drive they make as well.
I think this hard drive is totally worth the price, considering the amount of time you can sit and just read the old articles and look through the ages at how our perception of beauty has changed.
Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010 Reviews
Playboy - Cover to Cover (Bondi Digital Publishing) . You remember we told you about this hard drive coming to market this year? After Bondi Digital put out the great Rolling Stone magazine compendium and the first edition of the Playboy decade series (the 50's and now the 60's), it was time to get to digitizing the whole collection. Playboy is the perfect subject for the Bondi treatment on so many levels - culturally, politically, aesthetically and yes even the advertising! (we love seeing ads from the 60's for things like the AMC's Javelin car, Hai Karate aftershave and a full set of Jack Nicklaus golf clubs for $199!)
It's all there, every issue from Hef's famed Marilyn Monroe debut cover to Joanna Krupa's final cover of the first decade of the new millennium. One is stuck by many things, the calibre of the photography, the nature of the political times, decades of interviews (from all the legends you know, Norman Mailer to Woody Allen, Salman Rushdie to Bill Maher), even the print quality (a bit dot-screened in the early days to a much glossier look today.) Not to mention, of course, decades of beautiful babes from Anna Nicole to Pamela Anderson and virtually every Hollywood starlet of the last half century.
The main thing, of course, is the functionality which through the digital domain allows the reader (viewer?) to browse every title by cover, date and decade, search for specific content (we read it for the articles, remember?) and view pages in full screen, double page and multiple levels of zoom formats. There are advanced search tools to even pare down your search across multiple parameters. One drawback: in keyword search you will be taken to the page of the word but the search term is not highlighted and your computer's `find' function may not work as well (at least on the Mac version we tested.) One nice feature is that the system supposedly allows you to create reading lists so you can add articles to a list for future reference and even export the list as well, (though we weren't quite sure how you get that feature to work and found nothing mentioning it in the documentation.)
If there is a negative, it is perhaps that technology has advanced past the original CD-ROM curve that this series is based on. With the touchscreen, page-flip world of today (iPad, Kindle) and the shift towards cloud computing, it is only a matter of time before a new version of these compilations are expected by consumers. With this content already now digitized, it seem that such an item should be coming down the pike in the not-too-distant future. But for now, having the entire history of Playboy available and cross referenceable on a single hard drive. We'll take it.
Playboy - Cover to Cover (Bondi Digital Publishing) . You remember we told you about this hard drive coming to market this year? After Bondi Digital put out the great Rolling Stone magazine compendium and the first edition of the Playboy decade series (the 50's and now the 60's), it was time to get to digitizing the whole collection. Playboy is the perfect subject for the Bondi treatment on so many levels - culturally, politically, aesthetically and yes even the advertising! (we love seeing ads from the 60's for things like the AMC's Javelin car, Hai Karate aftershave and a full set of Jack Nicklaus golf clubs for $199!)
It's all there, every issue from Hef's famed Marilyn Monroe debut cover to Joanna Krupa's final cover of the first decade of the new millennium. One is stuck by many things, the calibre of the photography, the nature of the political times, decades of interviews (from all the legends you know, Norman Mailer to Woody Allen, Salman Rushdie to Bill Maher), even the print quality (a bit dot-screened in the early days to a much glossier look today.) Not to mention, of course, decades of beautiful babes from Anna Nicole to Pamela Anderson and virtually every Hollywood starlet of the last half century.
The main thing, of course, is the functionality which through the digital domain allows the reader (viewer?) to browse every title by cover, date and decade, search for specific content (we read it for the articles, remember?) and view pages in full screen, double page and multiple levels of zoom formats. There are advanced search tools to even pare down your search across multiple parameters. One drawback: in keyword search you will be taken to the page of the word but the search term is not highlighted and your computer's `find' function may not work as well (at least on the Mac version we tested.) One nice feature is that the system supposedly allows you to create reading lists so you can add articles to a list for future reference and even export the list as well, (though we weren't quite sure how you get that feature to work and found nothing mentioning it in the documentation.)
If there is a negative, it is perhaps that technology has advanced past the original CD-ROM curve that this series is based on. With the touchscreen, page-flip world of today (iPad, Kindle) and the shift towards cloud computing, it is only a matter of time before a new version of these compilations are expected by consumers. With this content already now digitized, it seem that such an item should be coming down the pike in the not-too-distant future. But for now, having the entire history of Playboy available and cross referenceable on a single hard drive. We'll take it.
Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010 Opinions
I Wish There Were More "Complete" Archives Like This... . As of this writing (August 2011), I can find just three periodicals that have been digitally converted & archived completely:
(1) PlayBoy
(2) Rolling Stone
(3) National Geographic
Both Playboy and National Geographic are available as USB-powered hard drives.
The Playboy viewing software is Bondi Publishing's creation and the National Geographic is viewed with Adobe AIR.
It's a very enjoyable experience scanning, browsing & reading the magazines from the 1950s all the way through to 2010.
Navigating the Bondi software requires a little advanced experience level as it is not the most user-friendly.
Every issue is complete from cover-to-cover just as they were originally, it's fun to read/scan the advertisements that were "current" but now obsolete.
All the great investigative journalism is amassed along with the fashion trends & advice from the demi-god himself!
Of course, I can't write a review for this product without a commentary on the scanned images...I will say they are are VERY GOOD (not excellent).
I Wish There Were More "Complete" Archives Like This... . As of this writing (August 2011), I can find just three periodicals that have been digitally converted & archived completely:
(1) PlayBoy
(2) Rolling Stone
(3) National Geographic
Both Playboy and National Geographic are available as USB-powered hard drives.
The Playboy viewing software is Bondi Publishing's creation and the National Geographic is viewed with Adobe AIR.
It's a very enjoyable experience scanning, browsing & reading the magazines from the 1950s all the way through to 2010.
Navigating the Bondi software requires a little advanced experience level as it is not the most user-friendly.
Every issue is complete from cover-to-cover just as they were originally, it's fun to read/scan the advertisements that were "current" but now obsolete.
All the great investigative journalism is amassed along with the fashion trends & advice from the demi-god himself!
Of course, I can't write a review for this product without a commentary on the scanned images...I will say they are are VERY GOOD (not excellent).
Good could have been great . Having played with this for a couple of days I have to admit I'm impressed. I previously owed the 1950's DVD box set using the Bondi software as well, and this feels more refined and faster. I've been able to easy index various contributors and articles and save them for later.
The quality of the scans aren't great. In some cases there are water stains or scribbles on the pages. It's possible that was the best they had, since let's face it I doubt Hugh Hefner and company were thinking of posterity early on in the magazine's run. Printing in particularly is pretty disappointing. At the very least it would have been nice to include the option to read transcribed text like Zinio and other software offers. That said, on a computer screen everything should be fairly readable.
As others have mentioned, the quality of the pictures is also an issue. In fact I was really shocked to find out this 250gb harddrive has 215gb free. You'd think with all that space they'd scan these documents in a higher resolution, or at least offer some extras like separate folders with high-rez shots of Playmates. It seems like a lost opportunity which Playboy may be kicking themselves for now. When I inquired via email on the 1960's DVD box set they immediately offered me a [...] off coupon for this set, which would indicate it isn't selling as well as they had hoped.
Which is kind of sad, because for all it's faults there is a goldmine of intellectual property on this hard drive. The articles, pictures, even advertisements are great to read. Sure I'd like higher quality scans, but I own both the Rolling Stone and National Geographic box sets and poor quality scans are an issue for all digitized magazines. So grab it while you can, because I have a feeling this won't be on the market for that long.
The quality of the scans aren't great. In some cases there are water stains or scribbles on the pages. It's possible that was the best they had, since let's face it I doubt Hugh Hefner and company were thinking of posterity early on in the magazine's run. Printing in particularly is pretty disappointing. At the very least it would have been nice to include the option to read transcribed text like Zinio and other software offers. That said, on a computer screen everything should be fairly readable.
As others have mentioned, the quality of the pictures is also an issue. In fact I was really shocked to find out this 250gb harddrive has 215gb free. You'd think with all that space they'd scan these documents in a higher resolution, or at least offer some extras like separate folders with high-rez shots of Playmates. It seems like a lost opportunity which Playboy may be kicking themselves for now. When I inquired via email on the 1960's DVD box set they immediately offered me a [...] off coupon for this set, which would indicate it isn't selling as well as they had hoped.
Which is kind of sad, because for all it's faults there is a goldmine of intellectual property on this hard drive. The articles, pictures, even advertisements are great to read. Sure I'd like higher quality scans, but I own both the Rolling Stone and National Geographic box sets and poor quality scans are an issue for all digitized magazines. So grab it while you can, because I have a feeling this won't be on the market for that long.
Classy and beautiful . Awesome idea. This brings you back in time and encompasses an era!
Very user friendly and great search function.
Very user friendly and great search function.
A must have for the connoisseur!!! . Truly a fantastic item. To have every edition, cover to cover, right on your desktop, laptop or mobile device is such a space saver. This is a perfect item for anyone with a historical interest as well. It is fascinating seeing the gradual yet noticeable changes throughout the years, as well as the advertisements which certainly hallmark the age of each issue. A must have for any connoisseur that is breaking through to the 21st century!!!
Keep it forever? . Keep in mind the articles in a proprietary format with a proprietary reader. If in 10 years the reader isn't compatible with your computer, no more magazines!
Cons Review
Avoid if buying for photos . I'd avoid this product if you are buying for the photos. I was impressed with the quality (resolution) of the virtual tour on the web so I went ahead made the purchase on Amazon. What they don't tell you is that image quality of the virtual sample is higher and much better than what you get when you purchase the hard drive. Many photos (pictures and cartoons) appear to have black ink or smears on them when viewed on the hard drive (or when the data is copied to your machine and then viewed). I compared several images from the hard drive to the virtual tour and the smudges and fake looking "colored-in" areas are not a problem with the on-line version...and yes I was using the same computer and monitor set up (I'm running Windows Seven on a nice Dell with a high quality Samsung monitor). Another thing that was frustrating was that you can zoom up to 400% on line but only 300% using the proprietary Bondi reader that you have to use to view the purchased issues. I was also not able to update to the latest version of the Bondi viewer/reader despite installing and uninstalling the version that comes with the hard drive and I'm very computer competent. I tried to reach Bondi tech support and they are nonexistent. I've sent several emails and left multiple voice mails....no follow up and there is no telephone number provided in the instructions (I had to search the web to find that!). So why two stars instead of one? If you are buying just for the articles you will likely be happy, but who buys Playboy for just the articles?
Playboy should be embarrassed. . I purchased the Playboy Cover to Cover The 50's DVD box set when it first came out in stores. It was OK, but the included book and reprint of the 1st issue were great. When they announced the Hard Drive, I decided to treat myself for Xmas, and got it.
1st off, it's a fairly classy looking little drive, from an off-brand company - so durability is iffy. Bondi had assured me before purchase that indeed, the drive's Playboy content could be backed-up onto another hard drive at any time, so that's a relief. And they may or may not offer future issues to add to the collection, another iffy.
But here's the kicker. Only the actual centerfolds are truly sharp and clear! Covers and pages suffer from all sorts of flaws and errors: missing pages and covers, poor scan quality, yellowed pages, crooked pages, and double-truck pages (that's where an image, ad, etc. spreads across both the left and right page) that don't line up. No effort was made AT ALL to restore, align or color correct the scans. In this day and age, this is just plain laziness and shows how far Playboy has fallen...anything for a buck, bleed the brand dry.
As for the most practical application of this collection - viewing on an iPad - forget it (sort-of). There's no app for the Bondi viewer, but you CAN export/print issues to an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file...with a catch. The covers are scanned into the Bondi files as separate files, and the Bondi viewer assembles them into each issue. To get complete issues as .pdf's, you'll need a version of Acrobat (or shareware) that can make single .pdf's from multiple .pdf's, save the covers and actual issue content, and assemble. Note that there is no option to do years or decades...it's one issue at a time, baby....and that would be more than a bit time consuming.
I've returned mine, and received confirmation of the refund within 48 hours of them receiving the drive.
Coulda been a contender...but no cigar.
1st off, it's a fairly classy looking little drive, from an off-brand company - so durability is iffy. Bondi had assured me before purchase that indeed, the drive's Playboy content could be backed-up onto another hard drive at any time, so that's a relief. And they may or may not offer future issues to add to the collection, another iffy.
But here's the kicker. Only the actual centerfolds are truly sharp and clear! Covers and pages suffer from all sorts of flaws and errors: missing pages and covers, poor scan quality, yellowed pages, crooked pages, and double-truck pages (that's where an image, ad, etc. spreads across both the left and right page) that don't line up. No effort was made AT ALL to restore, align or color correct the scans. In this day and age, this is just plain laziness and shows how far Playboy has fallen...anything for a buck, bleed the brand dry.
As for the most practical application of this collection - viewing on an iPad - forget it (sort-of). There's no app for the Bondi viewer, but you CAN export/print issues to an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file...with a catch. The covers are scanned into the Bondi files as separate files, and the Bondi viewer assembles them into each issue. To get complete issues as .pdf's, you'll need a version of Acrobat (or shareware) that can make single .pdf's from multiple .pdf's, save the covers and actual issue content, and assemble. Note that there is no option to do years or decades...it's one issue at a time, baby....and that would be more than a bit time consuming.
I've returned mine, and received confirmation of the refund within 48 hours of them receiving the drive.
Coulda been a contender...but no cigar.
Great content of terribly bad quality . I finally got the most expensive portable hard drive you could imagine in my mailbox. Yes, it's filled with every Playboy magazine issue from 1953 to 2010, but that doesn't justify the $300 price (duty tax excluded) for the hard drive.
The main reason why it doesn't justify the price is abominable compression they used on the scanned pages of the magazines. The articles are practically unreadable and the pictures are unwatchable. Even Stevie Wonder would notice that there's something wrong with the quality of the scans on the drive. After a couple of days of using the drive my eyes started to bleed. No wonder you get an ad for Clear Eyes Redness Relief in January's issue of Playboy magazine, they have to cover their back in case someone goes blind reading this stuff.
I just don't get it. How could they go wrong with this? They've chosen a medium with 250GB of space, and yet they only used 16.6 GB of it for the magazines and the rest is available for your other digital stuff you'd want to store on it... like family pictures for example. I know I'd be more than happy with only 100GB of additional storage and crispy clear scans that I could actually read without going blind.
I know they have a better version of scanned magazines stored somewhere. If you check the free preview issues at [...], you can see that they are clearly from the same source, but they are far superior in quality. Why couldn't they put those scans on the drive? Lack of space on the hard drive shouldn't be the problem, lack of brain cells... most definitely.
Since it took Playboy more than three years from the initial release of Playboy Cover to Cover: The 50s DVD to come out with this hard drive, you also have to deal with an outdated reading experience. Forget about putting this on your iPad , Kindle or any other reading device. The only way to read this will be sitting in front of your computer through an outdated Bondi reader, which is used for browsing, reading and searching through the scanned magazines.
Search function in the reader is practically useless. A generic search like "Pamela Anderson" gets you hundreds of results. When you click on one of them you end up on a page or an article where her name is mentioned. Since the search result is not highlighted, you sometimes have to go through a ten page article to find the exact place where the search term was mentioned. And when every second page ends with "article continued on page..." it becomes a daunting task to find something.
All in all, given the price of the product and poor quality of the scanned magazines, I think they should either recall the product or give an option to download the higher quality scans for those people that purchased the hard drive.
The main reason why it doesn't justify the price is abominable compression they used on the scanned pages of the magazines. The articles are practically unreadable and the pictures are unwatchable. Even Stevie Wonder would notice that there's something wrong with the quality of the scans on the drive. After a couple of days of using the drive my eyes started to bleed. No wonder you get an ad for Clear Eyes Redness Relief in January's issue of Playboy magazine, they have to cover their back in case someone goes blind reading this stuff.
I just don't get it. How could they go wrong with this? They've chosen a medium with 250GB of space, and yet they only used 16.6 GB of it for the magazines and the rest is available for your other digital stuff you'd want to store on it... like family pictures for example. I know I'd be more than happy with only 100GB of additional storage and crispy clear scans that I could actually read without going blind.
I know they have a better version of scanned magazines stored somewhere. If you check the free preview issues at [...], you can see that they are clearly from the same source, but they are far superior in quality. Why couldn't they put those scans on the drive? Lack of space on the hard drive shouldn't be the problem, lack of brain cells... most definitely.
Since it took Playboy more than three years from the initial release of Playboy Cover to Cover: The 50s DVD to come out with this hard drive, you also have to deal with an outdated reading experience. Forget about putting this on your iPad , Kindle or any other reading device. The only way to read this will be sitting in front of your computer through an outdated Bondi reader, which is used for browsing, reading and searching through the scanned magazines.
Search function in the reader is practically useless. A generic search like "Pamela Anderson" gets you hundreds of results. When you click on one of them you end up on a page or an article where her name is mentioned. Since the search result is not highlighted, you sometimes have to go through a ten page article to find the exact place where the search term was mentioned. And when every second page ends with "article continued on page..." it becomes a daunting task to find something.
All in all, given the price of the product and poor quality of the scanned magazines, I think they should either recall the product or give an option to download the higher quality scans for those people that purchased the hard drive.
Product Image
Feature Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010
- Get Every Single Back-Issue of Playboy Magazine from 1953 to 2010: Over 650 Issues / Over 100,000 pages of Playboy Magazine
- For the very first time, every issue of your favorite magazine is at your fingertips to browse and savor
- Powerful magazine browsing software from Bondi (included)
- Use it at home or traveling anywhere you can find a Mac or PC.
- This exclusive collection contains digital editions of every issue of Playboy Magazine
- Allows users to quickly search, view, explore and organize the entire archive of digital editions.
- Simply attach the hot-swappable USB bus powered portable hard-drive (no AC adaptor required).
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Product Details
EAN : 9780979526190MPN : PBOYHD1
Brand : Playboy
Color : Black
Binding : Electronics
Manufacturer : Playboy Enterprises - Bondi Digital Publishing
Publisher : Playboy Enterprises - Bondi Digital Publishing
SKU : pe3345
Studio : Playboy Enterprises - Bondi Digital Publishing
Where To Buy
You can buy Playboy Cover to Cover Hard Drive - Every Issue From 1953 to 2010 on Amazon . Click here to Read More
