Taking a summer plunge on digi-mags at Time Inc.

"It's just a nice, fun bonus that we're offering our consumer."

-- Time Inc. group publisher Paul Caine, referring to the digital online "one-shot test" edition of People magazine.

A story in Ad Age says that Time Inc. executives are keeping expectations low about the test because no one knows how well such digital initiatives will do. (A lot of people working for the corporation are wondering, since the investment meant a lot of people lost their jobs on the traditional print side.) Time Inc. has shunted a good deal of its resources into developing these initiatives for several of its titles.

Beginning today, 1.2 million subscribers to People will be getting e-mails this week with links to the new digital edition. (Note: it loads very slowly both because of its size and probably because so many people are going online at once to look at it.)

The 30-page digi-mag starts with an animated cover in which dolphins leap out of the water behind a bathing suit-clad Beyonce Knowles while a "Plus: Matthew McConaughey On The Beach!" tease floats up and down. Surf sounds play in the background. Editorial spreads allow consumers to watch movie trailers, tool through McConaughey photos, try different accessories on a mannequin wearing an Ella Moss dress and play with the advertising. Buffering delays are eliminated by loading the issue all at once.

People's staff designed most of the creative elements but worked with a digital-magazine production company called Blogform Digital Magazines to get the issue built. Unlike magazines digitally reproduced on systems such as Zinio, there's no software to install, there's a different soundtrack for every page, ads are interactive far beyond clickable URLs and all the content is original.

Industry observers are taking a wait and see attitude.

"This thing could pan out or it could be a dismal flop that they learn something from," said Brad Adgate, senior VP-director of research at Horizon Media. "This could be a template for future initiatives or this could be something along the lines of New Coke."