Big news broke yesterday. White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto confirmed that he will be purchasing the new Radiohead album, saying he’s “a big fan of Thom Yorke and the boys.” Fratto did not comment on how he intended to obtain it.

A few keen fans are complaining about the particulars of the experiment and free-ish download. Some are even saying they’re feeling “duped” by a digital conspiracy:

The first bone of contention arose October 9 — the day before Rainbows became available for download — when fans who ordered the album (either in its download-only form or as a deluxe, $81 “discbox” version) received an e-mail from Radiohead’s official online store, announcing that “the album [would] come as a 48.4 MB ZIP file containing 10 x 160 [kilobits per second], DRM-free MP3s.” […]

First and foremost, all of Radiohead’s previous albums were already available as MP3s encoded at 320 kilobits per second — the highest-possible compression rate in the format (though still not nearing the quality of a compact disc) — and most file-sharers scoff at anything less than 192 kbps. (MP3 files encoded with a lower bit rate will generally play back at a lower quality — something not readily apparent on tiny iPod earbuds but obvious enough on high-end home stereos.)

Second, most took issue with when Radiohead chose to announce that In Rainbows would be available at 160 kbps — after the majority of their fans had already paid for the download. To be fair, however, the band did give potential customers the power of choosing how much they wanted to pay to download the album. It could be had for as little as the transaction fee of 45 pence, or roughly 92 cents. There was also an option on the Web site to cancel orders; though, given the timing of the bit-rate announcement, fans had less than 24 hours to do so.

“Most promo MP3s come at a higher bit rate,” wrote the author of U.K. blog Kids Pushing Kids. “Worst pound and pence I’ve ever spent.”

“Radiohead has such delicate music that requires detail and depth of sound. … I for one CAN tell the difference between 160 and 192,” responded one commenter. “[With] 160 you can’t hear the finer details that make Radiohead so great. I have lost a bit of respect for Radiohead for this. I would never make people pay for 160. They may as well just stream stuff off MySpace.”

Some are also pissed off that the Radiohead camp may actually have a strategy to turn a profit with their release.

I haven’t chosen how I’m going to obtain it yet either.

Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon Cover)

Could Maurice Binder be better?

Posted by thelumberjackthief |