# Every issue of \[American music magazine\] Spin at Google Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 20, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086 "2010-03-20T00:39:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/1 "2010-03-20T00:39:42Z")
[http://books.google.com/books/serial/N0HASap-qBoC?rview=1](http://books.google.com/books/serial/N0HASap-qBoC?rview=1) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/2 "2010-03-20T00:55:19Z")
OK, so what is Spin? Why should we care? Is this news? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/3 "2010-03-20T01:13:39Z")
It’s news for me, a periodicals librarian, who just forwarded it onto her colleagues. What’s your problem? ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/4 "2010-03-20T01:17:21Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s news for me, a periodicals librarian, who just forwarded it onto her colleagues. What’s your problem? Ha, I’m a librarian too (although not a serials librarian) and I was just thinking “This is fantastic, we’ve already got access to _Rolling Stone_ through our subscription databases but _Spin_ is only indexed!” ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/5 "2010-03-20T01:41:19Z")
Every issue of Spin at Google Books what? ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/6 "2010-03-20T01:43:29Z")
Oh, for crying out loud, people. [Spin](http://www.spin.com/) is a music magazine. Google Books now has every issue of said magazine available for online perusal. Very useful and cool if you have any interest in this magazine. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/7 "2010-03-20T03:08:26Z")
Thank you for this news! It seems like I run across a favorite magazine being hosted there every day. For instance, I found that Billboard is now there. This is the very expensive, tabloid size, weekly magazine of the recording industry. I can’t imagine the problems a library would have in keeping old copies. Now, the entire history of American Pop music is fully indexed and available. Anyone who is not excited about this trend has never had to do any significant research. For instance, I was researching music to add references to Wikipedia. The Chicago public library has bound issues of Creem, Circus and Trouser Press - and I had to leaf through **every single page** to find the info. This is big. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/8 "2010-03-20T06:25:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, so what is Spin? Why should we care? Is this news? If only there were a link somewhere you could click to see what it is… ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/9 "2010-03-20T12:23:05Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > If only there were a link somewhere you could click to see what it is… If only the OP, who already knows, could be bothered to give a brief description. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/10 "2010-03-20T15:26:55Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > If only the OP, who already knows, could be bothered to give a brief description. The title of the thread was a perfectly clear explanation. I suppose it helped that I already knew that “Spin” was a magazine, but from context (“every issue”) I think it was pretty obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/11 "2010-03-20T16:54:44Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > If only the OP, who already knows, could be bothered to give a brief description. Inadequate thread titles is a pet peeve of mine, so I’m a bit peeved at myself to see that apparently I made one that some felt was not descriptive enough. Obviously I felt it was descriptive enough, so I’d appreciate some clarification as to what you feel what missing. Do you think the word “magazine” needed to have been explicitly used, and the reference of them being “issues” was inadequate to convey that it was magazines being linked to? ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/12 "2010-03-20T17:22:30Z")
I suppose mentioning explicitly that it’s a magazine on (pop?) music or the music business in general or whatever would help. It’s not the title, which is fine, but the lack of descriptive text in the OP. Not everyone here has ever read Spin (I haven’t). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/13 "2010-03-20T18:06:41Z")
I have never opened a single issue of **Spin**. If you asked me to quick name 100 magazines for a billion dollars, I might not think of it. But I could tell from the OP’s _ **relatively adequate thread title** _, that it was a magazine. And from the name either about “records” or “Tilt-A-Whirls” or “Centrifugal Force” (but that’s more of a farce than a force…) And I also assumed that if I didn’t care about it, I could ignore it… or, even if I’d opened the thread and thought “Oh, it’s a magazine… big whoop.”, I could go about my day with no harm done. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/14 "2010-03-20T18:39:22Z")
The thread title was adequate, but the first post wasn’t. As a general rule, a single link is never enough content for a post: Say why you think the link is interesting or exciting or worth sharing. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/15 "2010-03-20T20:23:02Z")
Hopefully the other US music magazines will allow Google to scan and host their old issues. The only reason I could imagine they would not is whatever relative pittance they get from selling back issues. But, personally, I’d be more likely to buy a back issue, just to have a hard copy, if I knew the information that is in it. For instance, I’m a huge Todd Rundgren fan. Two issues of _Spin_ had reviews of his albums - one good, one bad. I’d be pissed if I had spent a lot of money buying a back issue to get a review and got the bad one. Searching, I found an [interview of Todd done by Dana Carvey and Hal Wilner](http://books.google.com/books?id=P-WMLSbDQMEC&pg=PA53&dq=%22Todd+Rundgren%22+hal+wilner+Spin&ei=KC6lS_W8BpikyAS0sPD3CA&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false) that I never knew existed. Are you listening, _Rolling Stone, Creem, Crawdaddy, Trouser Press_ and _Circus_? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/16 "2010-03-20T21:51:53Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > I suppose mentioning explicitly that it’s a magazine on (pop?) music or the music business in general or whatever would help. It’s not the title, which is fine, but the lack of descriptive text in the OP. Not everyone here has ever read Spin (I haven’t). I’d prefer not to have to open a thread, or even flyover, to find out what it’s about, so I have asked the mods to rename the title to indicate that Spin is an American music magazine. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/17 "2010-03-20T22:16:28Z")
And I have done so. I do think, however, that this is a good example of why we prefer that people use descriptive titles plus add some explanatory text to the OP so people have some idea about why they might – or might not – want to click on a link. **twickster** , Cafe Society moderator ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/18 "2010-03-20T22:46:37Z")
What I find especially interesting about this is that they’ve included every page of every issue, including advertisements. So this could be useful not only to people who want to read old music reviews, but marketing or communication students who are interested in old ads. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/19 "2010-03-20T22:51:11Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > What I find especially interesting about this is that they’ve included every page of every issue, including advertisements. So this could be useful not only to people who want to read old music reviews, but marketing or communication students who are interested in old ads. I agree, the ads are often very interesting to see. Check out some of the ones in Popular Science, also archived by Google, from 137 years back! [Popular Science | Science and Technology Stories Since 1872](http://www.popsci.com/archives) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086/20 "2010-03-21T03:28:34Z")
Thank you so much for this news – this makes me irrationally happy. I’m supposed to be looking for a job right now buuuuuut guess what I’ll be doing for the next few days. 🙂 I love reading all the reviews in the back, now that time has past and you can see how the artists have fared in the interim. I used to have a huge box of music zines I had saved from high school/college (early-late 1990s) and it was interesting to read through them and find a review of, say, Radiohead’s “Pablo Honey,” in which they were derided for being trite one-hit wonders. O ho! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/every-issue-of-american-music-magazine-spin-at-google-books/533086.md?page=2)