Image by Haeretik via Flickrnine inch nails: the slip

I’m obviously the last person on EARTH to notice but I just downloaded the new album by Nine Inch Nails (or is it The Nine Inch Nails?) which they offer on their website for free.

And in perfect technical quality.

What perfect means?
Well, they give you either a high quality mp3 download (lame encoded mp3, ‘V 0’, zipped) or they let you download (via torrent) flac or m4a files in CD quality. Or they give you plain WAVE files in 24bit/96khz ultrahighquality. Which you need special equipment for to hear the difference (e.g a Creative Audigy 2 like me or something newer). But anyways, it’s far more choice -again for FREE- than I have at any given online retail place (or even offline retailer). Why can’t I download CD quality from iTunes? Where I will pay for it!

I never bought a NiN album before or ever conciously listened to their music but this truly is the perfect example why the music industry must change their rules quickly or the artists will do it without them.

Imagine a world where music in data or disc is free -or-ridiculously cheap- and you only pay if you actually go to see the artist live.