radiohead turns the tables on album format offerings

radiohead has always been an inventive band. each album they have released, from 1993's pablo honey to 2003's hail to the thief, has offered the listener something completely different from the last album, yet equally as listenable (my only exception here is 2000's kid a - no matter how many times i listen to it, halfway through, i forget i was listening to it - it just sounds like background music to me...).

with the next album, even though i haven't heard any of it yet, they are continuing with their innovative streak. the album, entitled in rainbows, is currently available for preorder in 2 formats: downloadable digital format and deluxe edition "discbox". why is that so innovative, you ask? well, they are allowing us, the consumer, to preorder (available oct. 10th) the downloadable digital format for whatever price we choose. yes, that means we can download it for free - straight from the source (after some research, it appears that a transaction fee may be tacked onto the final price - probably to those who specify a value of £0.00 - who could blame 'em?). now any self-respecting music lover that cherishes the bands they love, and respects them as artists, will not download it for free, but hey, the opportunity is there, approved by the band. pretty cool.

the other option, the "discbox", as it is called, will be released on or before december 3rd, and can be preordered for £40.00...what????? hang on, let's see, in u.s. dollars that would be...$81.74 as of today. but wait, let me explain further. at first, i thought this was just some insanely priced special edition cd/dvd set in a hard-bound box or something. upon further inspection, though, i realized that it is going to come with a load of cool stuff, such as the album on cd, a second cd with several extra new tracks, the vinyl version of the album (2 x 12") on heavyweight vinyl, lots of artwork, a lyric booklet, all presented in a beautiful hardback book. wow. i should also note that the digital download is included, so the consumer can still have the music in october when everyone else does. check out the picture below.


photo courtesy of http://www.inrainbows.com

i have added this to my christmas list already with a heavy hint that it should not be ignored (and if my wife is reading this - i really, really think this would be an excellent christmas present...really). i think we should all support this crazy idea, because it looks to be a win-win situation, whether you like to download your music or buy the physical album (i prefer the latter, obviously). yeah, radiohead!

missing kids screensaver...

i was reading a few articles on cnn.com last week and ran across one that really interested me, as i thought it was a great idea. take the old "missing children" thing that we used to see all over milk cartons, make it a downloadable screensaver that is updated regularly, help find more missing kids. sounds like a great idea to me, so i thought i would share. the screensaver was developed by Global Software Applications, in cooperation with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).



here is how it works. you go to www.missingkidsaver.com and download the screensaver for free. when your screensaver pops up, it cycles through missing children profiles. it is tailored to your area, so you shouldn't see profiles for children missing in alaska, for instance. it uses your internet connection to gather the latest information so it is always up-to-date. see their FAQ page here for more details.

the program takes seconds to download with hi-speed internet and another few seconds to install. give it a try and let me know what you think.