http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-downloa...-pay-305566.php

"Radiohead dropped a bomb on the music industry last night, announcing their new album In Rainbows. What's the big deal? Well, first of all, it'll be released in a mere 9 days, catching everyone off guard (it was expected sometime next year) and keeping the tracks from leaking to the web. Secondly, you'll be able to download the album from their official site for any price you want to pay. Yes, it's pay what you want, including free. Really.

If you want a physical copy, you'll need to drop a whopping $82 on the "discbox," which includes both CD and vinyl versions of the album, plus an additional CD/vinyl of more new songs, with the CD also including digital pictures and other such goodies. It also comes with a big photo/art book. That version also comes with the digital download, as the physical copy won't drop 'til December 3rd (the delay to help prevent leaks, presumably).

What Radiohead is essentially doing is making piracy useless for their album. It won't leak, so you can't get it early by pirating. And, assuming they'll be selling high-quality MP3s as they do with all their other albums, there's no reason to avoid DRM by pirating. And, since it's essentially free if that's what you think it's worth, you won't save any money by pirating. By making this the best way to get the album, chances are good that people will actually, you know, pay for it, even though they don't have to. And since this is OMG Radiohead, you know boatloads of people are going to drop $82 on the collectors-item discbox, which is sure to help them make their ducats.

Oh, did I mention they're doing this without a record label? Yes, that sound you just heard was the music industry collectively crapping its pants."

Kinda cool but I just want a normal $10-$15 CD

then burn it

When you own the original CD, that means you have a full-quality original to rip from at any time. That's my idea of what music ownership should be like, not getting lossy data to start with.

as a big fan of radiohead, i'll probably end up buying that $82 box set.

Me too, which annoys me

Quit bitching.

if they distribute it as lossless, then you can burn it as lossless. digital is digital

It probably won't be flac though, will probably be V0 VBR or maybe 256-320 CBR.

Rent it from the library and burn it

Do you have such a great sound system where you will be able to tell the difference?

Great idea, I wonder how many people will give money for the online CD. I hope this kind of stuff catches on, and doesn't end up biting them in the ass.

I am suprised there are people who like radio head to begin with.

I've got pretty good soundsystems...probably not good enough to honestly tell the difference...but it's the principle of the thing. When I own something, I want to own a physical hard-copy version of it, not something that might disappear in a power surge, hard drive failure, or what have you. I want my money to go to something permanent.

Of course, then you can argue "well then don't pay for the new Radiohead album", but I WANT to pay for it because they've produced something that's for my entertainment and I owe them something for that. But I just want it on a CD damnit...

I know what youre saying and Im the same way. But the vast majority of people do not feel the same or even care about the difference because they will never be able to tell.

It'll be 320kbps CBR.

They're stupid for wasting bandwidth on 320kbps, but it's CBR so at least it will be compatible with any device, and have puurdy spectrals.

Guys I think it may be a joke, not sure. I went through the process of "pre-ordering" the album, and it never asked for my credit card or anything. At the end it said it will be charged to my credit card as "Waste Products Inc" or something along those lines. I believe it may just be a gag. Worked... lol...

Uhh it's not a gag. The form is just standardized. I paid 5.45 british pounds for it, which is about $11 USD.

i'm curious to see what people think music is actually worth nowadays.

I downloaded it this morning for a price of $0. I only listened to the first song b/c i have to go to class. So far it sounds pretty awesome.

I'm on track #2 and it's great. I'm glad I paid for it, even if we did get screwed in terms of bitrate (I was expecting 320 or at least 256 and it's 160 )

Didn't like track 1 or 2 much, everything else was pretty good.

1 was sorta Eraser-ish, 2 was just great. I'm currently listening to House Of Cards (which I saw them perform live) and it's great. Two tracks to go!