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Content
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| Quality : |
15.0 / 20 |
| Quantity : |
13.5 / 15 |
| Entertain : |
12.5 / 15 |
| Updates : |
7.5 / 10 |
| Exclusive : |
5.0 / 05 |
| Download : |
2.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
55.5 / 70 |
| Navigation |
| Easy : |
7.5 / 10 |
| Features : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Design : |
4.0 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
15.5 / 20 |
| Other |
| Originality : |
4.0 / 05 |
| Hard Facts : |
3.5 / 05 |
| sub-total : |
7.5 / 10 |
Scoring Criteria New
New Update!
As of Aug 15th, 07, price of a site is no longer factored into the overall score/rank. |
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1. Famous Europe magazine.
2. Mag Archives from 60's to now.
1. Video/store sales pitches.
2. Airbrushed magazine pictures.
"This should give Private's print mag fans a little something extra." |
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Private reminds me a lot of Hustler. They're both established and popular porn mags with long histories that have now expanded into the world of videos and the internet. The obvious difference is that Private is European while Hustler is American. The magazines under the Private company's umbrella include Private, Pirate, Triple X, and Sex. They've been publishing since 1965, so you have some idea of their success. If you're already a fan, my feeling is you'll be very pleased with this site.
My favorite part has got to be the magazine archives. This is cool. Every issue of all their magazines available. Yep, all the way back to the very first issue. On a side note, man did porn suck back in the '60's and 70's or what? I know lots of people call those the glory days of porn, but I'm sorry those people were just so damn ugly it's scary. Anyways, you can click through each from start to finish and each page can also be enlarged.
The site's photo galleries are under a section they label "Stars". In addition to the photos there are some interviews with pornstars, European chicks mostly. The pictures themselves are just what you'd expect from a hardcore magazine. All of it is starletts with dudes in very posed positions and lots of airbrushing. Most of the girls are hot so long as you're into the fake boobs and plastic surgery type. Not my style but I know many guys dig those babes. Picture quality is average, but I expected a bit more from a company like this. One unique feature is the ability to save pics to a "favorites" folder to be accessed again later.
The video section is both impressive and unimpressive at the same time. Private produces their own dvd's and they have a nice collection that can be viewed on the site. Complete porn movies (80 in all) that can be streamed by scene is a great feature. The problem is they aren't dvd quality and are very grainy on full screen mode. In addition, these guys want members to pay extra ($9/3days or $12/30days) to rent the DIVX DVD quality format. That's ridiculous in my opinion, I mean you might as well just buy the movie for those prices. They wouldn't mind you buying them either as is obvious by their Private Store promotions in the movie trailers section and highlighed "Store" tab on the menu bar.
I really think this site will appeal almost exclusively to porn magazine fans. If that's the kind of porn you're into, Private's site will deliver for you. That being said, the photo and video content are surpassed by many other porn sites. Right now membership cost is $29.95/mo, which is to be expected for a name brand like this. Sure, I'd like it to be cheaper and have a trial option, but hey, what am I gonna do?
| 1st Follow-Up Review |
Review: 02-04-05 |
Private's movie section still has flaws that make it not very member-friendly. Basic member videos are still average quality with the rental of DVD quality files costing extra. On top of that, even the average quality files are DRM protected. From a member's perspecive, things like that can only to devalue the worth of a site. Those video restrictions make me feel more convinced that Private's website will be most enjoyed by existing fans. A casual surfer who signs up looking for hardcore porn would probably be less willing to tolerate such annoyances than a fan who already knows Private and loves what they offer.
On the plus side, Private is doing one thing that I don't think I've ever seen before. In addition to their main member's design which is extremely sharp, the site is also offered in a Low-Bandwidth layout. I like creative stuff like that, it's just a shame they turn around and shoot themselves in the foot in the movies section. Overall, I still beleive the magazine archives remain the most valuable content, it's very cool to see the pages as they were laid out instead of just the issue's photo sets. Other than that section I'm not overwhelmed by what Private has to offer.
Score increased from 76.7 to 78.0.
| 2nd Follow-Up Review |
Review: 11-30-07 |
Private continues to grow with the additions of newly published magazine editions along with updates to the star photoset and movie parts of the site. Update is one area that I haven't addressed specifically in previous reviews. The log in the member's area is broken down by week with a handful of items added during the period. These include a mix of things to different content sections of the site. With the magazine archive and DRM'd videos still the main content components Private's site is still best suited for fans of magazine style content and more specifically Private's magazines. These guys have set up a special $19.95/mo price for TBP surfers which helps make it a better value.
Score increased from 78.0 to 80.0.
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