The Digital Age

OK, downloading and paying for the new Radiohead album In Rainbows was about the most painless experience you could ever hope to have. They released the album today only on their website, and offered it to listeners with a name-your-own-price format. You could pay as little as 0.45 pounds (about a buck) or more. I thought this was such an innovative effort, the open-source version of medieval patronage, that I gave them $20 and had no problem doing it. I want Radiohead to keep making music and I want them to be successful, not to mention that I want to show the music industry that this is clearly the future and they'd better wake up to it.

The album also happens to be terrific, a major improvement over Hail To The Thief, upon a first listen.