Rolling Stone: Cover To Cover

Ive been a fan of Rolling Stone since I was a kid. I read my first issue in 1988 when I was 11. Since then ive read as many copies as I could get my hands on, and have had a few subscriptions to the Australian edition. Ours is ok, features about 50% of the US edition and then a collection of Australian articles in the style of RS - music, politics, entertainment, etc.

I kind of enjoyed the recent TV show Im From Rolling Stone - even though it was on the most un musical television station on the planet; Mtv. I cant believe im about to type this - Justin Timberlake was right: "Play more damn videos" "We don't want to see the Simpsons on reality television. Play more videos!"

I personally feel the magazine has become a bit lame in recent years. I want more in depth articles on artists - new and old. I want more cutting edge stories on politics and war. More stories from across the globe. Music, life, politics, poverty, etc in Brazil, Uganda, Greece, Austria, etc. The internet is full of that shit in detail. But i dont want it on some Lonely Planet website or whatever - I want RS to cover it in a way that they do it best. Passion, Integrity, Humour, Left/Right bent - whatever. Just write more.

David Fricke, Senior Editor - Rolling Stone

But every time I get miffed about Rolling Stone theres always one journalist who reels be back in - David Fricke. Sure the haircut, big glasses and black skivvy's shit me to tears, but man this guy can write. If theres an article about a topic im not interested in - and David Fricke has written it - im all over it. No speed reading here. The guy is a damn fine writer. Actually, fuck it - get him to write the whole magazine, take the photos, do the artwork, make the coffee, etc. Classic Albums is even cooler when he comments. I just hope he doesnt turn up to comment on every damn VH1 Behind The Music. Scott Ian im looking at you....

When I read about Cover To Cover I knew I just had to have it. No price would be too much for this. Ive purchased a few back copies of RS on eBay over the time and this has been great to tide me over for a while - but this is EVERYTHING. And its EVERYTHING that I want.

Ill start my review of Cover To Cover from the very beginning.....

I found a small 2 line article on a Blog (that I cant remember the address or name of) about the
rumoured Rolling Stone archive collection. I searched rs.com to no avail. I found a Reuters article and sent the link off to the RollingStone.com customer service address as well as an email address I found on the Bondi Digital site. RS customer service (wennermedia) replied that they had no release date. Bondi Digital replied with everything I needed - an address to order, info about its release date, a URL to more info and details of the pre-release offer (save 20%).

So I visited the site and placed my order - no problems with the Yahoo store and the shipping to Australia was only $9 - a bargain compared to other shipping rates. The package arrived today - November 5th. From the picking slip I can see that it left Sonopress in Pleasant Prarie, WI on Oct 31. So thats pretty damn quick to get to Sydney, Australia. Well packed too - im sick of getting packages in the mail and the contents are damaged. One book arrived last week and the lower half of the spine was bent as it had been put in a box 4 sizes too big with one small piece of airbag to protect it. Morons...

So now onto the contents:

BOX SET

Its larger than I thought. Great design (true to the sample photos over at Bondi Digital) and its
finished in a nice matt effect, with the red in the Rolling Stone logo finished in gloss. By box was
only slightly scratched / damaged and I assume that was from the manufacturing process as the shrink wrap wasnt damaged. No big deal - itll get a lot more scratched the more I use it.

Opening the cover reveals the DVD package embedded in the left side of the folder, and the book on the right. Some great cotton flaps are secured under the DVD and book to allow easy removal of each. This is great as im uber anal about damaging these things.

DVD

The DVD is in a cardboard case (the same size as a normal DVD movie). The case is made out of the same material and finish as the actual box set. Opening the case reveals that it is secured shut by a hidden magnet - a nice touch. Inside the case revelaed a nice collage of about 400 different RS covers from throughout the magazines history. A good preview of whats to come. The 4 discs have the same artwork as the cover. One disc is the Bondi Reader software, with the other three discs seperated into differnt histories of the magazing (Nov 1967-Dec 1983 / Jan 1984-Dec 1995 / Jan 1996-May 2007). The discs are secured by clear plastic disc holders, allowing you to see the RS cover collage behind the discs.

Inside the DVD case was a quick start guide - as all software and games should have. Big credit points to Bondi Digital for doing this. Also included is a redemption certificate for the free 1 year subscription to the print version of the magazine - great for USA residents, but its of no use for the other 5.8 billion people on the planet. It would have been nice for it to be noted somewhere on the website and/or Yahoo store that it was for US residents only. Oh well, at least one of my USA resident friends will get to use it on my behalf.


BOOK

The book is a softcover 200 page volume detailing the history of Rolling Stone magazine. Nice collage of old and new covers is across the glossy cover and spine. The book is well made and would be a brilliant publication to buy on its own. It has an intro by the Bondi Digital publishers as well as a note from Jann Wenner. The rest of the book has an almost annual Rolling Stone yearbook feel to it. Theres some amazing full page photos, and each year in the Rolling Stone history is represented by at least a double page spread detailing some samples of whats inside the digital archive - reviews, stories, photos, etc. I like it that it has a note about that small article snippet, allowing you to use the archive to go back are read the full review / story.

DIGITAL ARCHIVE

Installation went easy enough for me running XP SP2 (Vista blows). I hate it when I have to resart every time I install an app, so it was nice to be able to get straight into it without the long shut down / restart process.

Next.... does it work?