Like all other magazines in the digital age, SPIN has struggled to keep its print audience. Wisely, they have rushed full-force into the online arena and they’re doing it quite well. Not only do they offer a website loaded with great information and multimedia, but also a flip-book online magazine that can be delivered via email. More recently, they have released an updated version of their iPhone app and a brand new app, SPINearth.

First, the standard app offers an easy, quick way to see what’s new with SPIN. The app gives a one-button link to album reviews, news and photos. The reviews are up-to-date with the SPIN website and provide a quick link to iTunes where you can preview and purchase songs and albums. The news section gives quick, easy-to-read versions of the online content. And the photos are presented nicely, featuring snapshots from recent concerts and the like – turn your iPhone sideways to get a landscape view, flick the screen to see the next photo and click a button to get captions.

SPIN’s new iPhone app, SPINearth, has serious potential. Through a team of dozens of international and local correspondents, SPINearth offers live video of concerts from around the world. For example, I just finished watching a video of Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell perform “Hunger Strike” from their Temple of the Dog days at a recent concert at Gibson Amphitheater. The video itself was jumpy as hell – to be expected from user-generated videos, I guess. There are also updates from the correspondents as they travel and other interesting features.

Now the bad news. The SPINearth app crashes, and videos don’t always load. Also it’s a hog on the already-feeble iPhone battery. This app is a work in progress, so some bugs are to be expected. That said, it’s a great start.

Nice work, SPIN. Your move, Rolling Stone.

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