EstherSurden
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Sep 13, 2010, 8:36 AM
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Boomers Go Interactive with RollingStone 500 Greatest Songs
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By Esther Surden - Tech and the Baby Boomer
Many boomers are trying out social networking sites and tech gadgets like the Apple iPhone for the first time and find them a bit daunting. We boomers are awesome and eventually we figure everything out. In this blog I write about my own experiences with sites and gadgets. My hope is to entertain other boomers and possibly provide some feedback for manufacturers and site developers.
RollingStone Magazine has created an interactive issue, which users can download for the iPad through the Zinio app. What sets this magazine apart is the clever way it is designed to take advantage of the interactive features of the iPad. Here's how you get it. First download the free Zinio App from the App store. When you open the Zinio App, you'll find a "store" inside. Inside the store, there is a listing for interactive magazines. Choose the RollingStone 500 Greatest Songs of All Times Issue.
You'll have to give Zinio a credit card number to get this app, but once you download it and pay the $9.99, a hefty price for an app, you get a magazine chock full of information. There are a couple of feature stories such as this interview with Leiber and Stoller,
and short articles about each of the songs and artists chosen, as well as a way to listen to 30 seconds of each song.
The number one designated song in the magazine is Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, and next to it are icons for reading about it, listening to 30 seconds of it, and buying it.
In fact, many of the top 500 songs will be familiar to Baby Boomers and come from artists we know and love like the Beatles, John Lennon , The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and The Beach Boys. The app easy to use and fun to listen to.
What's significant about the magazine is the spirit of discovery that it encourages. You are only wasting 30 seconds of your time if you tap on an unfamiliar song and don't like it, so you keep on tapping. That's when I found out that all hip hop wasn't created equal. Number 51 on the list, right next to The Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson, was The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. I listened to 30 seconds of it and I liked it. If I choose to download it, it will be the first hip hop song ever on my iPod and iPad. And that's exactly what Apple, Zinio, and RollingStone are counting on.
Going through these 500 songs will be a journey of discovery for many of us. If you are like me, you missed some of the songs of the 80s and 90s. By that time I had ventured into Jazz and other venues. But I am open to all kinds of music. So if I find something I like in this journey, I'll probably buy it from the iTunes store, which is conveniently linked to the app. You do have to re-sign in to the iTunes store to purchase the songs, but actually, it's genius.
Once again Apple has found a way to part me from my money! I'd definitely like to know how many songs were processed through the iTunes store from people who bought the RollingStone magazine. I'll bet it's impressive!
Esther Surden is a journalist who has been writing about the business of technology, emerging technology and telecom for 30 years. While she knows the ins and outs of computer software, design and hardware, actually learning how to use devices like the iPhone, e-book readers and some social networking sites is a work in progress. She tweets athttp//www.twitter.com/techandboomers.
Visit her blog at Tech and the Baby Boomer.
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(This post was edited by StephenWinbaum on Sep 13, 2010, 11:02 AM)
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