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"I’ve bought a few at $1.29; I’m calling my lawyer in the morning and plan to sue." — whilst Gruber may well remark in jest, it’s within the realms of possibility (certainly given recent history) that *someone* in the Apple community will complain.
Every single time I listen to In Rainbows, I hear such subtle nuances and careful use of strings, discordant samples and melodies that it’s almost overwhelming when you let go of expectation and just.. listen.
The download version is encoded in 160kbit MP3 and does not contain any form of DRM, meaning it will play on virtually anything and is priced at whatever you feel is fair.
The bitrate is a little on the low side for my tastes, however it is sufficiently high enough to avoid most of the typical artefacts that are introduced at lower rates.
Radiohead are continuing to explore and evolve and improve — there is a very definite sense of measured control and a gentle touch present that wasn’t quite so evident in the previous outing.
It also has the distinction, in this authors humble opinion, as one of the easier Radiohead albums to actually just listen to for the sake of enjoyment.
I think it might genuinely replace OK Computer as my most preferred Radiohead album. Far better than I expected and every bit as good as I hoped.
Bravo.
Communiqué received earlier this morning from
Waste:
THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.
Thank you.
160kbps is a bit low for a static bit rate, particularly for an MP3, however if that is a VBR (variable) rate, then all is forgiven. Later today, I hope to be moshing […]
Pointing out the absolute futility and utter failure, that is DRM. And to think, instead of the industry forcing it’s rootkitesque ways on the world, it could so very simply release music, DRM free, at a fair price.
"The EMI announcement is not exclusive to Apple. Consumers have made it clear that unprotected music is something they want. We plan on offering it to them as soon as our label partners are comfortable with it.." — yeah and we don’t steal idea’s either! #
"My feeling is that typical consumers won’t care that much…lower price will win out over slightly higher quality and some nebulous future flexibility." — kottke misses the point, DRM free audio at a higher bitrate and *no* device lock in. Nebulous?! #
"Apple® today announced that EMI Music’s entire digital catalog of music will be available for purchase (without digital rights management) from the iTunes® Store worldwide in May." — hell froze over, EMI to release drm free music (for a price). #
".. what is best to develop this market and to have more consumers enjoying this really very important, very modern way of downloading and enjoying the music?" Kill DRM! It’s the single biggest hurdle to open formats, let alone with the industry itself. #
