Fenxy

I'm in! I got the e-mail this morning.

I'm impressed that I haven't heard any mention of the tracks being leaked. Heck I haven't even heard what the track names are. Guess after "Hail to the Thief" they've got the art of secrecy down.

I'll be downloading but I'm not too bothered about the quality as I paid very little for album and I've ordered the boxset at a hefty cost to compensate.

I'm impressed that I haven't heard any mention of the tracks being leaked.

Another bonus, I guess, when you manage you own distribution. You control who's in the "loop".

Box sets aren't out till December, right?

I'm impressed that I haven't heard any mention of the tracks being leaked.

Another bonus, I guess, when you manage you own distribution. You control who's in the "loop".

That's exactly the point I made. With no labels involved, there are fewer opportunities for ne'er-do-wells to make off with demo tapes or pre-pressed CDs.

Hmm nested blockquotes still aren't playing nice...

But, on topic, so you did.

Box sets aren't out till December, right?

Yep, mid-December for the box set I think, hence why I also pre-ordered a download. I can't possibly wait that long for a listen!

Nice, I'm on it!! Or will be, tomorrow.

im so excited about it, i ordered last week. i can't wait to listen to it

Anyone else kinda let down (radiohead pun) that the songs are *only* 160kbps? It is 2007 after all.

let down (radiohead pun)

Good one.

I'm not too worked up about it since I didn't pay anything. If it's good (and considering I've never heard a Radiohead album I didn't like, I'm sure it will be) I'll buy it and re-rip it.

TQ: I did start off saying that but I reckon that because they've probably transcoded from a billion kbps, the quality could be much better than if they sourced the files from a CD.

But anyone got their email yet? I's well into the afternoon now and I'm get to get an email =(

Two questions:

1. Did the email really come like that in all capitals?
2. You complained about a 160kbps bitrate, but when does the sound quality increase stop to become noticeable? I figured it was around 160kbps-192skbp.

Very much looking forward to seeing how the world reacts to this album as a lot of things hinge on its success/failure.

Am I the only who just doesn't get the Radiohead buzz? I mean, they're aight. Kind of like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen: I respect what they do, but I've never thought their work matched the hype.

(covers himself from onslaught of rocks headed his way)

Ryan you're entitled to your opinion. Anybody who'll judge you for your musical tastes needs to grow up. Radiohead's music can be a bit esoteric anyways.

And Scrivs, yeah it did come in all-caps.

Ewoks! Firefox crashed before I managed to post =(

Still no email but in response to Scrivs:

1: Yes. Awesome, isn't it?!

2. No plenty of people can't tell the difference between a 128 and a 256. There are several tests out and about showing that most people on average consumer audio hardware. And encoding from CD and encoding from the super-dooper-mega-high-bitrate source they have will yield different results.

It's a pity they're not submitting downloads to the charts. That would really prove how well the album is doing in terms of distribution and I've a feeling it's pretty immense already.

I imagine they're waiting for people like me who aren't paying until they've listened to it before they start pulling the numbers together.

Am I the only who just doesn't get the Radiohead buzz?

No and that's fair enough. People have different tastes and Radiohead move between genres pretty fast.

That's one of the key reasons I like them so much. There's so many (what I think to be) good songs but they're all wildly different in style and presentation.

LOL...I feel like I'm missing out on something by not liking them; all of my friends do. But I've tried to like them, it just isn't there.

It's like romance: either the spark is there or it's not. Nothing you can do about it.

THANK YOU FOR ORDERING 'IN RAINBOWS'.

THE LINK BELOW IS YOUR UNIQUE DOWNLOAD ACTIVATION CODE.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK OR CUT AND PASTE INTO YOUR BROWSER TO OBTAIN YOUR DOWNLOAD.
IF YOUR LINK APPEARS AS TWO SEPARATE LINES, PLEASE CUT AND PASTE THEM CAREFULLY INTO YOUR BROWSER.

THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.

GET IN!

Never been a fan of Radiohead. But I'll check it out.

However good or bad the album is, though, it'll do incredibly well, and their fans will idolize them for it. Radiohead fans are kind of like Apple zealots.

Oli: I also figure that the mp3s were encoded from the masters recordings, so yes they will sound better in that regard. 160kbps mp3 never sounded "bad." In fact, 8 or so years ago (when 80GB drives cost ~$300) it was the compromise I made between quality and size. It's just surprisingly small for 2007.

Scrivs: I generally agree that most differences start to disappear in the 160-192kbps range. For a very long time, I considered 192 to be a luxury (see storage statement above). But, as storage has gotten cheaper and I've been able to slowly afford better audio equipment, I've started to notice the limitations of the lower bitrates, particularly in the extremities (muddy lows and washy highs). So these days, even if I can't tell the immediate difference today, I go with 256 AAC because I to make sure it'll still sound good on whatever equipment I might have in the future.

To my untrained ear, this sounds fine in 160.

To my untrained ear, this sounds fine in 160.

It sounds pretty bad to me so far. But I don't think it's the bitrate.

Radiohead fans are kind of like Apple zealots.

Just so you know, I'm listening to the new album now and I can say this is another massive genre jump for the band. It's most like Hail To The Thief but it's a lot easier to listen to =)

Har, har.

(Rich)

.

jensized: I'll come back to that when I'm done but yeah, I can see what you mean for a few songs... There really is a lot less bass floating about though (something that really drove the last two albums)

Lol you deleted your post?

Well I started to rethink it as the tracklisting progressed... I was gonna put something else there but you caught me ninja-style!

I wish I could undo my undo now.

@Ryan: Have you tried some their earlier stuff? It tends to be easier to listen to initially.

I find it interesting just how many threads have started surrounding this release. I appreciate Radiohead a pretty popular group, and they've been around for ages, so have quite a following. But even so, I'm impressed that after four years they can generate this much activity and hype.

@tunequest: I feel ya, but again I am just wondering if people are perceiving the higher number as higher quality just because it is a higher number or if the human hear can even start to notice the difference which I'm pretty sure it can't.