70 years of Sky & Tel on DVD

OneOfOne (Trevor) · #1 22-06-2010, 07:44 AM

Sky and Telescope (US version) has just released a DVD set of all 70 years of their magazine, from November 1941 to December 2009!

Have a look at their link for further details:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/96569564.html

Very tempting, but when would I find the time to read it all! Maybe I could book myself a flight to Jupiter or something?

leon · #2 22-06-2010, 03:23 PM

How Much Trevor, I did not notice a price, but then again, I am gettig old.

leon

Coen · #3 22-06-2010, 03:46 PM

From the site (US $):
Special Offer only for Sky & Telescope Readers
Pre-Order by August 6, 2010
Save $50
off retail price of $299, you pay only $249*
...and receive FREE Shipping on U.S. orders.

*Product expected to ship by August 16, 2010

Steffen · #4 22-06-2010, 04:14 PM

It's a great idea, but I wonder why they're not making the mags available as eBooks, at a lower cost (to them and us)?

Cheers
Steffen.

Blue Skies (Jacquie) · #5 22-06-2010, 06:56 PM

It's very tempting - I'd so love to replace all the hard copy magazines taking up shelves and shelves of book space with just a few inches of DVDs. Maybe I'll treat myself for Christmas later in the year.

ngcles · #6 23-06-2010, 12:44 AM

Hi All,

I'm thoroughly biased and disclose a vested interest up front, but I will certainly be buying them. I grew up on S&T, am honoured that they let me write for them and still love the magazine.

My astronomical society has virtually a whole set in paper form. They are for me a wonderful reference material and what Walter Scott Houston wrote sometimes 2, 3 or 4 decades ago will often serve to inspire an idea for an article today. I still cannot believe they allowed me to follow in Scotty's footsteps by writing over a dozen Deep sky articles for S&T and in excess of 30 for AS&T.

That's not to denegrate, exclude or pooh-pooh other publications -- many of which are excellent and of a high standard that I often read too, but in my eyes S&T (along with its off-shoot AS&T) is the original and best of all.

Bargain I reckon!

And BTW Steffen, you have been able to buy individual articles for years off the site, though not whole magazines.

Best,

Les D

acropolite (Phil) · #7 23-06-2010, 08:11 PM

Someone correct me if I'm mistaken but this morning I thought I noticed an online only offer for subscription to the (web only) mag at a very cheap price (I think it was $14.95), seems to have disappeared, did anyone else spot it???

Jen · #8 23-06-2010, 11:08 PM

wow how cool would it be to have that collection
Hope they do some sort of competition for that too

Merlin66 (Ken) · #9 26-06-2010, 01:45 AM

In the 1990's I managed to complete my collection of S&T... every issue from 1941 to now.
I paid a fortune the get them bound, but geee they look and feel great.
I'm annoyed with S&T that they have fallen behind in the prepartion of the annual index...
Yes,
I'll buy a copy of the DVD's; you won't find a better source of information "as it happened" A tremendous resource for any amateur.

Rigel003 (Graeme) · #10 27-06-2010, 10:25 AM

I've been a continuous subscriber to the US mag since the early 70s and still have all the hard copies since 1990. In a weak moment I gave away all the earlier ones. Every month they have a section near the front when they give the title of a highlight story in the magazine from 25 years ago with a thumbnail of the cover. I must have devoured those copies so thoroughly that I still vividly remember the covers of those early editions. I still remember marvelling at the new photos each month as the Voyager spacecraft were moving past the outer planets.

The digital copies won't be the same as actually thumbing through the real thing but I'll probably weaken and buy them anyway.

rmcconachy · #11 27-06-2010, 02:45 PM

Phil, you can indeed subscribe to a digital only version of Sky & Telescope (US edition) for $US15 for 6 months. See http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/newt...t_201003v3/#/0 where you can download the March 2010 edition and sign up for a digital subscription. Rather than using the web based reader program I suggest downloaded the PDF copy of the magazine to your computer so you can read it offline using your preferred PDF viewer.

Regarding the back issues on DVD, I'm interested but I want to know what format the magazine is stored in, e.g., PDF, JPG images of each page, etc. Sky & Telescope talk about having reader programs for both Macintosh and Windows but I want to be able to access the issues directly rather than being forced through a particular reader program. Currently nobody at Sky & Telescope is willing to say whether this will be practically possible. If direct access is made difficult by means of encryption or closed formats then I will not buy the DVDs.

leon · #12 27-06-2010, 03:16 PM

Well Jen, what are you waiting for, go girl

Leon

Astrobserver99 (Rob) · #13 04-07-2010, 09:03 PM

Much of the content in the older editions are dated..for this reason I wouldn't bother with the DVD. There is all the astronomy information you could possibly want on the web, mostly for free. These mags are quickly becoming obsolete...

astro744 · #14 18-08-2010, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astrobserver99

Much of the content in the older editions are dated..for this reason I wouldn't bother with the DVD. There is all the astronomy information you could possibly want on the web, mostly for free. These mags are quickly becoming obsolete...

Yes true the web is full of info but this compilation is a wonderful resource for historians astronomical or otherwise. I got my set this week and am going through each magazine from Nov 1941 and am currently at Dec 1942 (flicking through quickly to see what takes my fancy). There are countless of interesting technical articles, quizes, ATM info, star charts, current phenomena and news as well as ads. You could buy a 6" Pyrex mirror kit for $5.50 in 1941. There is also a $3.75 kit I presume is non-pyrex.

I am really enjoying this compilation and I almost feel a part of history as it is happening. I haven't even got to the space age yet. I highly recommend this 70 year set to any astronomer or historian interested in the chronology of scientific discovery of the heavens from both a professional and amateur viewpoint not to mention the countless articles on amateur telescope making over the decades.

h0ughy (David) · #15 18-08-2010, 07:51 PM

mine arrived yesterday - look forward to browsing

cmartin74 (Colin) · #16 25-01-2011, 01:49 PM

Hi All,

I have read a number of reviews regarding the 70 Years of S & T available on DVD, both positive and negative. Some of the reviews have highlighted poor image quality reproduced from the S & T magazines. Just wondering if it would be possible to obtain some sample scanned pages, say 10 from the various decades to compare quality.

Have a great day.

Regards

Colin

colinmartin74 (at) yahoo.com.au