Playboy Magazine Arrives on Hard Drive for Windows and Mac OSX

Playboy, the decades old magazine that is well known for its "stimulating articles," has released an archive of its publication for the digital age, just in time for the holiday season.

New for that special someone this Christmas season 2010 is a 250 GB USB hard drive that contains every Playboy issue. Spanning from 1953 to 2010, the drive is reported to contain 100,000 pages of photos from the 650 issues of the legendary magazine that has found its way in front of many eyes over the past 57 years.

The release comes in partnership with digital publishers, Bondi Digital Publishing, who also released digital archives of other magazines including The New Yorker, and Rolling Stone. This collection of past and present possibly arrives with the ever growing interest in all things retro, and the reported fact that Playboy announced a recent third quarter loss of 28.5 million dollars due to a variety of factors.

The USB hard drive, which contains about 250 GB of material, also includes 300 GB of free space. The drive itself features the famous Playboy Bunny logo etched into the drive's outer shell. The hard drive's suggested retail price is $299.

Other selling points for the archives include original first editions, and special content including the Marilyn Monroe issue.

If owing the entire collection on hard drive is out of the budget, Playboy is also offering collectors' Box Sets by decade for $19.99 each. The Limited Edition set is accompanied by a coffee table book.

The searchable digital archives are viewed with the powerful Bondi Reader software, which allows searching and page viewing within seconds.

Minimum System specifications for the Limited Edition box set include:

Windows 2000, XP SP2, Vista
Minimum 512 MB of RAM (1 GB RAM recommended)
750 MB of free hard drive space
Minimum screen resolution 1024 x 768

Mac OSX 10.3.9 or later
Minimum 512 MB of RAM (1 GB RAM recommended)
750 MB of free hard drive space
Minimum screen resolution 1024 x 768

Hard Drive specifications include:

Dimensions: 5" L x 3" W x .5" H
Interface: Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and 1.1
Spindle Speed: 5,400 RPM
Performance: Up to 480Mb/second
Power: USB Bus Powered (no AC adapter required)

An Internet connection is also recommended for any optional software updates.

Sources/Resources:The Street: Playboy's Losses Widen on Higher Costs
The Street: Playboy Releases Full Archive Hard Drive
Playboy's Digital Hard Drive Archive and Box Sets Online