Rolling Stone Is Going 3-D for No. 1,000

Rolling Stone, which produced the best magazine cover of the last 40 years, as judged by its peers, is already working on its cover for May 2006.

The date may seem far away, even for a business noted for its long lead times. But that month is special in Rolling Stone's history: the magazine's 1,000th issue.

For the occasion, Wenner Media is planning what appears to be a first for the magazine: a cover in 3-D.

Will Dana, the magazine's managing editor, said it would "celebrate the history of the magazine" by showing a collage of about 100 people who have been central to the nation's music, politics and pop culture since Rolling Stone's first cover, which was dated Nov. 9, 1967.

Inside, the magazine will offer various self-referential features, like pictures of 100 of its covers that its editors deem the best. Presumably, one of them will be the January 1981 cover photo of a naked John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono, which was recently voted the best cover of the last 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors. (The magazine's first cover in 1967 also featured Mr. Lennon.)

The 3-D cover is the idea of Jann S. Wenner, the magazine's founder and editor, and is being put together by Amid Capeci, the magazine's art director. Steve DeLuca, the magazine's publisher, said that as the editors contemplated their 1,000th cover, they wanted something that would grab the attention of readers and advertisers and be considered a breakthrough.