damn... they are pretty much down...

I had serious trouble with the site for about the last 40 minutes. But I breezed through in about 5 just now.

This expression strikes me as totally wrong, seeing as Radiohead is a British band.

I was very excited about the prospect of buying mp3s directly from the band and was prepared to do some come pay day next week -- until I heard from a friend that the mp3s available online are at 160 kbps, a bit rate most fans of online music will immediately recognize as inferior and technically below CD quality. A bit rate of 192 or above is generally seen as acceptable for music mp3s. Why would the band choose to put out low quality mp3s for fans? Beats me. All I know is the $12 I planned to pay for "In Rainbows" has been reduced to something around $6. I'll just save the rest and put it toward the CD when it finally comes out in 2008.

"160 kbps, a bit rate most fans of online music will immediately recognize as inferior and technically below CD quality"

Anything above 128kpbs is just fine for anyone who is not an audiophile/music snob. 160kpbs is more than enough bit rate for this kind of donwload.

The issue is that radiohead fans were not told the quality of the download before they decided how much they would pay. Those fans who opted to pay larger amounts out of good faith or respect for radiohead are getting ripped off.

While many people are accustomed to mp3's at bit-rates lower than 190, you don't have to be a music snob to hear the loss in quality. There's a big difference between settling for poorer quality sound because you're stealing music, and being given the minimum passable standard because your favorite band led you to believe you're getting their latest release through some democratizing music for the people project.

from a skeptical radiohead fan

Here's an idea: download the album and don't pay anything. If the recording quality is not up to your standards, toss the donwload away and wait for the "real" CD to release. If you like it, go back to the site and pay the band what you see fit. One of the benefits of Radiohead's business model is it allows for this kind of customer sampling.

Another caveat regarding numbers: I've seen several people comment in blog threads about the album sales that they initially "bought" the album at 0 pounds, with the intention of "rebuying" the files at a price based on how much they liked the album. I've no idea how common that tactic has been, but it does mean that the number of buyers is probably somewhat inflated.