Absolutely MAD Magazine - 50+ Years

Wow. To think I have box after heavy box filled with old MAD Magazines in my house and even that only goes back to the 80s. Now I can toss all those out and just have everything on one coaster sized DVD (yes it is on one DVD desipite it mentioning two somewhere above). But just kidding, I could never part with my paper copies, but still this DVD is a MUST HAVE for any MAD fan. I mean it has every single issue up through 2005 on it (so it is one year shy of being totally complete, but I guess they had to draw the line somewhere). Still 52 years of a magazine on one DVD is pretty darn impressive. It is easy to get started too. Nothing to really install. After upgrading to Adobe 7.0 which is suggested, I was on my way. The interface is simple, you simply start with the decade you want, then narrow it down to a year, and then are presented with all the covers for the choices for that year. The regular issues are on the left and the specials on the right. I am not a huge fan of Adobe usually, but for this sort of product it does the job. It is easy enough to move pages, zoom in, etc. However I didn't realize everytime I'd look at a new issue, it opened a new tab on my bottom task bar. I must have had 30+ tabs open at one point. Oh well, such MADness. The way the Super Specials and other reprint issues are handled is OK. Instead of being able to flip through all 100 pages in a row like with the regular issues, you are only given the cover, contents, and any pages that were NEW material. All the previously reprinted material is available by clicking the link in the table of contents and you are taken to the issue it first appeared to view it that way. I suppose that makes sense rather than double and triple printing articles to save space. But just be aware, you can't page through the specials like you can the regular issues. The few Color Classics issues from the 90s and 2000s are intact however as those reprints were "new" since they were in color for the first time. Oh and on the regular issues you can also click on the content page listing to be taken right to a particualr article which is handy. I looked briefly at the extras and there a bunch of interviews, some animated Spy Vs. Spy moments from the early days of MADTV and some "web only" articles that have appeared over the years too. Seems like some good stuff to go back and check out when I have more time, especially the interviews. It would have been nice as the other review mentioned to have some of the classic MAD audio files, but I guess you can't get too greedy. For a little over $40, to have 50+ Years of MAD on ONE DVD... I wish I could go higher than FIVE STARS because this is a must have for all MAD fans. And even the packing is nice. Instead of a sleeve or even a plastic case, the DVD sits inside a fold out cardboard container designed to look like a MAD Book with several classic covers reprinted on it. So it will look great on a bookshelf or wherever you decide to display it. If you love MAD, you would be ABSOLUTELY MAD to NOT buy this DVD!

If you've ever heard the phrase "phoned it in", you're in the right general area. In fact, photos taken with a phone from a few years before this product was released would be better than the extremely poor quality scans in this collection. Not only is the quality low (some text is actually illegible) but the images aren't even framed well, cutting off bits of pages here and including parts of other pages there. It's like some kid in a great rush pirated copies of Mad magazine he found in the trash, using a scanner from an ancient technology museum. It's a massive waste of money and a huge disappointment - avoid.

I have the older version of MAD, which is not from the same company. Kudos for this version in every respect but one (and I may be in error). First, the old program suffers from a pain-in-the-(insert word here) interface, with no flexibility. This new version is all PDF. Transfer to your PDA and have fun!!!! It has some pretty good extras, like the covers of the paperbacks, which happened to be the only way we could get to see early stories like Starchie. I gave this 5 stars because of the ease of porting this from one PC to Mac to PDA. Now the big downer: As far as I can tell, there are no audio files. No Gall in the Family Fare? the audio parody of Archie Bunker? Aw, c'mon! Is that such a big deal? In the 7 CD version there are very few sound files, so it's not a space issue. Lastly, from a former printer, the register is not always great, as if they used poorly printed pages here and there. Print colors bleed. However, buy this one; it will not get any better. Find someone who has the old audio inserts or the original programs. Or, maybe I missed it, but dagnabit! I sure looked for them boogers. [Added] After more looking, they actually show the vinyl record and its reverse side, which is blank, but do not have the sound files. I don't really care about the extras like Spy animations that were not part of the original issues, especially when they leave out a key essential as a vocal version of a classic parody that WAS part of the originals. It's a great value. It's the most flexible of releases. Those who remember Broderbund's obscenely overly done protection will feel great relief. Put out a great product and people will buy it. Buy this.