I once met a guy that had over sixty years of National Geographic magazines.  Although proud of his collection, it presented several “problems”, including its bulk and difficulty to search for any specific topic - relegating the entire library to the classification of mostly useless novelty.  The paper pages were also old and dry, perfect kindling for a massive fire.

To try and stay relevant in this era of eBook readers and the decline of printed media, National Geographic has digitized and released a compilation of printed content from its entire 120 year history.  From the National Geographic society’s press release:

In this archive, from October 1888 through December 2008, every printed page, including advertisements, has been digitally scanned, allowing users to leaf through electronic pages, search, zoom, scroll and print at a high-resolution level that captures the clarity and quality of the original publications.

Offered via multiple DVDs ($70) or installed to an external USB hard drive ($200), the advantages of this collection are clear.  It’s searchable, giving readers instantaneous access to more than a century’s worth of articles and photography with a few keystrokes.  It has an enhanced and appealing user interface with bonus features such as a trivia game and documentary detailing the society’s history.  It doesn’t require a moving truck to transport when lending to a friend.  And as eBook readers and flash memory capacities continue to improve, I’m sure we’ll soon carrying collections like this on our iPods.

[Via:  CrunchGear]