Comments on: Trent Reznor keeps on his promise

Trent Reznor keeps on his promise

booticon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:37:43 -0800

Trent Reznor releases a new Nine Inch Nails album out of the fucking blue called Ghosts. The first 9 tracks are free, and it's on The Pirate Bay. The whole thing is $5 (with a slew of other order options) which you can get on their website (which is getting hammered right now), or on Amazon. The digital downloads are 320kbps MP3/FLAC/Apple Lossless. All DRM-free.

$5 for the digital download. $10 for the 2CD album, including a link to the digital download. $75 for the Deluxe Edition Package, which includes the album in a fabric slip-cover case, a DVD with the album in multi-track format, and a Bluray disc with the music accompanied by a slideshow. Oh, and there's the $300 ultra-deluxe limited edition (limited to 2,500 units) which includes more shit.

By: [son] QUAALUDE

[son] QUAALUDE — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:44:43 -0800

ah hah, i see what you did there mr.reznor. good stop-gap business model. cheers to you!

By: mediareport

mediareport — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:46:56 -0800

Not quite out of the fucking blue; he strongly hinted at something like this last October: Reznor announced Monday that the group is now "free of any recording contract with any label." Representatives from Reznor's music label, Universal Music Group, were unavailable for comment. Reznor provided few details in a note on the band's Web site about how the group plans to proceed, but his announcement raised hopes among fans that he will follow the lead of British band Radiohead, which last week announced it would handle sales and distribution for its upcoming album, In Rainbows without the backing of a label... At a performance in Australia last month, Reznor expressed frustration with the high prices that labels charge for CDs. "Steal it," Reznor told the audience. "Steal away. Steal and steal, and steal some more and give it to all your friends."

By: churl

churl — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:56:04 -0800

The official site is getting killed right now. Funny that a couple days ago I noticed the (unreleased) "Closure" dvd on piratebay. The uploader, seed0, is widely believed to be Trent himself, distributing things that never got properly released because of various copyright- and label-related issues. There's already a wikipedia page on the album. I'm really interested to hear it.

By: Deathalicious

Deathalicious — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:57:23 -0800

I can't see how this is anything but a good thing. If recording execs start seeing that they can be circumvented, then maybe they'll start taking bands and customers seriously. As always, I, being a total cheapskate, will continue to buy all of my music used.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:01:22 -0800

Autechre did something similar with extras on the physical release, releasing their new album Quaristice as a download a month earlier than the physical product: The new album "Quaristice" from Autechre is out now as MP3 via Bleep.com. The MP3 version includes track-by-track artwork from The Designers Republic and sees the light of day 1 month before the physical copy hits the shops. Next to the normal version you may also expect a highly limited 2xCD edition with special steel packaging and bonus disc to be released on March 3rd but sold out already in pre-order within 24 hours of going online in the Warpmart shop. Strictly limited to 1000 copies worldwide, this 2CD version of the 20track "Quaristice" album holds a bonus disc containing 11 different versions of selected tracks and was sold at 24 UK Pounds, roughly 50 US dollars, plus shipping. All tracks were produced by Autechre and are exclusive to this edition of the album. This is how musicians will get people to buy physical releases.

By: [insert clever name here]

[insert clever name here] — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:06:04 -0800

yeah, you could say hammered. I'm gonna have to buy it later after I've downloaded it from TPB because I just can't get through to the nin store. And I will. This is one of those things I really want to support. (I really loved Year Zero, can't wait to hear this!)

By: _aa_

_aa_ — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:07:28 -0800

Lawrence Lessig points out that it's released under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial, Share Alike license.

By: davebush

davebush — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:09:57 -0800

For 5 bucks, I got close to 2 hours of music, plus a really nice 40 page pdf (lovely photography). Not much to complain about here.

By: seawallrunner

seawallrunner — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:10:06 -0800

_aa_ this is listed on the Ghosts.NIN web site as well. I have some video footage I would love to set to these ghosts... One can stream this new album, I am listening to it right now. Awesome !!!!

By: drjimmy11

drjimmy11 — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:10:13 -0800

I can't see how this is anything but a good thing. Well, it's a new Nine Inch Nails album. sorry, couldn't help it. Your favorite band has its moments.

By: Ryvar

Ryvar — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:12:06 -0800

Can't get make the purchase right now (site's too far gone), but I am buying this ASAP. I'm not a fan anymore - but looking at the purchase options here . . . my God. My fucking God. Somebody actually finally gets it.

By: Remy

Remy — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:16:26 -0800

Meathead from TNH wrote up an entertaining review. For those fighting your way through the ass-slow store, I recommend (if possible) using Paypal when the option presents itself to bounce over to a somewhat more reliable server to actually deal with paying. The download speed, oddly, was fine - 150-200k for my MP3 zip download.

By: Camofrog

Camofrog — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:18:03 -0800

Heh, that was the fastest torrent ever ... took all of 2 minutes? The record sounds great, sorta NIN meets Brian Eno. But as a grammar geek, I wish they would start calling themselves "Nine-Inch Nails," not "Nine Inch Nails." Because what's an inch nail? And why do you need nine of them?

By: davebush

davebush — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:19:23 -0800

For those looking to buy the physical versions - be warned, the shipping costs aren't friendly.

By: matt_od

matt_od — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:26:31 -0800

davebush: how unfriendly? can't get that far into the store to find out.

By: Remy

Remy — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:28:39 -0800

matt_od: From my personal experience, the S&H on the $75 Limited Edition one was $15.

By: kindall

kindall — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:35:25 -0800

So basically, if you get the $75 deluxe set with the multitrack files, the CC license lets you release your own remixes. Sweet.

By: matt_od

matt_od — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:36:14 -0800

Don't know if anyone else has noticed yet, but you can also buy the Limited and Deluxe Editions at Artists in Residence. They aren't getting hit like the nin site is.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:38:34 -0800

Hmm. It's kind boring, like elevator music. Or it sounds like ambient music from a video game (not too surprising, since NIN did the music for Quake)

By: pumpkin

pumpkin — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:39:27 -0800

that was a bad ass torrent. Agreed. The first track is nice..

By: davebush

davebush — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:49:57 -0800

Sorry - shipping costs to Canada aren't friendly. $13.00 to ship a $10.00 CD.

By: snwod

snwod — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:07:51 -0800

I haven't really listened to anything new from NIN since my highschool days. But I'm going to buy the album because, like [insert clever name here] above, the idea is something I really support. Thanks Trent.

By: Lectrick

Lectrick — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:58:26 -0800

In case you guys don't know about it, there is a Year Zero Remixed album which is quite good- some of the remixes make the original songs completely different...

By: Stunt

Stunt — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:02:36 -0800

Holy hell. I support this so hard. I'm buying the physical copy just to support this kind of distribution even though I might not like it. I love this so much.

By: moonbiter

moonbiter — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:05:29 -0800

I'm glad I like NIN so that I can support this. This is how I want to be able to buy music.

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:13:14 -0800

How many times do I have to re-enter the stupid security code to get through to the bit where it accepts my email address and sends me the link to the free download? I'm up to eight so far and getting frustrated, and I can't even read this next one. The rest of the site was running pretty fast too. I don't normally do torrents but would really like to listen to a few tracks before I decide to buy so will probably have to give in and reinstall uTorrent. Bah.

By: Stunt

Stunt — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:17:15 -0800

Took some persistence, but there we go; finally managed to preorder the two cd set and now I have the FLACs downloading. Woooooo. Still giddy from how awesome this is.

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:25:06 -0800

OK so torrent was the way to go. Installing the software and downloading the file took about 15 minutes total. And several of those were working out how to find the files after they downloaded.

By: jokeefe

jokeefe — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:26:16 -0800

Huh. At least Radiohead included the shipping costs in the price of the discbox (40 pounds/80 bucks, and worth every penny).

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:33:48 -0800

He'll make $750 000 (minus production costs) on the extra special limited edition alone.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 00:41:56 -0800

Your favourite record company sucks.

By: Arturus

Arturus — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:24:07 -0800

I'm not the biggest NIN fan, but I have to love them for pulling this off. Listening to the torrent now.

By: cillit bang

cillit bang — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:29:46 -0800

Music? For sale online? Radical.

By: Drexen

Drexen — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 02:57:21 -0800

I'm not the biggest NIN fan, but I have to love them for pulling this off. Listening to the torrent now. Ditto! I may or may not buy this album, but for any band I was really a fan of I would take them up on an offer like this within 5-10 milliseconds.

By: quonsar

quonsar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:52:46 -0800

what will lars think?

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:10:23 -0800

I want to give Trent five bucks. So I picked the five buck option. Then I gave him my email. Then I picked Paypal ... Then I picked the five buck option. Then I gave him my email. Then I picked Paypal ... Then I picked the five buck option. Then I gave him my email. Then I picked Paypal ... Either this is some intentional meta-retail means of establishing a pre-listening state of techno-dread, or something is awry. (Or maybe Trent doesn't really want my five bucks.)

By: caddis

caddis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 04:28:01 -0800

How much is the shipping to the US for the basic 2 disc CD version? $5 for someone to burn the discs, print out the graphics etc. is more than worth it, but if the shipping is as much or more......?

By: BrianBoyko

BrianBoyko — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:25:25 -0800

I don't even like a whole lot of Reznor's music - but I'll buy it.

By: grubi

grubi — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:42:00 -0800

I still say that within years, the music companies as we know them will atrophy into hired guns -- much like studios and CD printers -- that the artists themselves will call upon and pay to distribute and market their wares. Basically, bands will pony up costs for the studios, the studio personnel, the distribution, the marketing... then the albums will be sold at whatever the artists choose (since the bills have already been paid, so to speak), and they will make their real money touring or selling merchandise. You watch. I'm tellin' ya.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:45:43 -0800

At least Radiohead included the shipping costs in the price of the discbox (40 pounds/80 bucks, and worth every penny). The moral is, charge your customers more upfront, and give them free shipping, and they'll thank you. And that way, you can overcharge for shipping and no one notices. Win - win.

By: es_de_bah

es_de_bah — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:46:22 -0800

good on Trent. And so far this is way the hell better than his last two albums. Brilliant business model, too. If i was more into electronic music , I'd totally spring for the multi-track DVD. The shit you could do with two discs worth of NIN tracks!

By: Flunkie

Flunkie — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:50:24 -0800

Basically, bands will pony up costs for the studios, the studio personnel, the distribution, the marketing

Established bands, sure, I could see that. But how do you expect a band to get established in the first place, if they have to pay for studios, studio personnel, distribution, and marketing before they have a record to sell?

By: nosila

nosila — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:02:10 -0800

Basically, bands will pony up costs for the studios, the studio personnel, the distribution, the marketing Established bands, sure, I could see that. But how do you expect a band to get established in the first place, if they have to pay for studios, studio personnel, distribution, and marketing before they have a record to sell? Or after they have a record to sell but no one will listen to it because a record label didn't contact all the appropriate media outlets and give them the magic password so that said media outlets could assure listeners that [new band #43,587,234] was super-hawt? Will it be by shameless self-linking in forums?! Lord, I hope not. Somebody flag this, and quickly.

By: [son] QUAALUDE

[son] QUAALUDE — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:05:11 -0800

Basically, bands will pony up costs for the studios, the studio personnel, the distribution, the marketing well, in the indie world this is pretty much how it happens anyways... your little label usually doesn't have the marketing or advertising budget to make a real dent in the market for YOUR NEW RELEASE, so bands wind up forming their own productions companies as an LLC, and then supplement whatever ad bucks they feel is required (or just do much of it themselves). This is, unfortunately, why most indie groups are, in reality, spoiled upper-middle class proto-businessmen dressed in skinny jeans and a cardigan. bad/good? i don't know... i suppose i would rather reward THEIR hard work than have the big label machine do everything and siphon the cash to the top. opinions?

By: Prospero

Prospero — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:19:44 -0800

Note that (per the FAQ) the physical CD will be available in stores on April 8. Who knows what the price for it will be, though. Also, since the site's still getting hammered, if anyone who successfully ordered the 2xCD version could tell us what US shipping cost is, it'd be appreciated.

By: Eideteker

Eideteker — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:37:38 -0800

buuny

By: opsin

opsin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:56:10 -0800

Awesome. This will possibly wind up pleasing me more than the last two albums in terms of the long term, though I do like Year Zero more than With Teeth. But anyway, I'm more than happy to support any artist when their material is distributed this way! Niggy Tardust was definitely one of my albums of the year, and anything Trent produces I always want a flac copy as my digital versions.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:58:35 -0800

and they will make their real money touring or selling merchandise. I've always been led to believe that's already the case with the current RIAA setup. Or am I missing something?

By: Pastabagel

Pastabagel — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:04:46 -0800

Does this mean that the Year Zero ARG or story or whatever it was is now over? How did that end. I'm sorry to say I lost interest after hearing the rather lame album.

By: ChrisR

ChrisR — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:05:52 -0800

Echoing many other posters here; Trent's music has become less and less interesting to me as the years have passed... more because I don't like the messy, layered heavy metal that he's done for three albums. However, this album, instrumental and ambient, is exactly what I've wanted to hear from him for years. So I get to buy a NIN album that I like for the first time in nearly ten years, for just $5? Hell yeah!

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:23:36 -0800

Update: I was able to make the $5 purchase by using the credit card route. After a wait of about five minutes, I received an emailed receipt and another email containing the download URL. At the download URL, I was given the choice between MP3/320, FLAC and Apple Lossless. I picked MP3/320, which comes in a 200MB+ ZIP file. The download commenced at a very slow rate, somewhere around 10kps or so. Unfortunately, the download ended prematurely around 11MB. I sent an email to NIN store support, but have yet to hear back. Anyone else having this kind of flaky download problem? In retrospect, I should've probably gone the Amazon MP3 route. Though the bitrate might've been a bit less (256), I would've benefited from the Amazon Downloader to manage the download by pulling the album one track at a time.

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:25:28 -0800

Hot damn, I'm excited. I spotted the "two hours" post he made on nin.com prior to the release, and I had assumed the build-up was just for an announcement of some kind. I got to hear the first track on the online preview player before the site crapped out on me- nice! Reminds me vaguely of The Fragile (always a good thing). A bit one-noted, but from what I've read from people who've heard more of it the songs are all over the place stylistically. It will be interesting to see what fans do with the multi-tracks. This is going to be a loooong work day. Can't wait to order my copy and listen to the whole thing this evening. I'll probably end up shelling out for the $75 package- I'm getting flashbacks to my days as an avid collector of all things NIN. Well played, Trent.

By: opsin

opsin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 07:27:47 -0800

grabbingsand - there did seem to be many notes around that if your download fails you can still go back and restart it no problem. So I wouldn't worry and possibly just wait 'til it calms down a bit. I'm going to just leave it until tomorrow I think, as I'm on a slow connection and will be getting the flac copy.

By: vernondalhart

vernondalhart — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:13:08 -0800

Wow. Downloading that torrent I was reminded at just how fast a high-speed connection can be. 600kb/sec is FAST.

By: adamdschneider

adamdschneider — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:55:22 -0800

grabbingsand, my download also ended prematurely. opsin, I don't know about reusing the link. It's clearly marked in at least two places as ONE USE ONLY, and when I optimistically clicked it again, nothing happened. Maybe that's just a function of the overloaded servers. I sent an email to support. I would go the torrent route, but I don't see the FLAC version on Pirate Bay or btjunkie.

By: mike3k

mike3k — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:58:17 -0800

The download didn't work. I *finally* got a confirmation from Paypal after trying for almost an hour and I *finally* got the download link. I tried several times and it would either not load at all or would time out after less than a minute. Finally I got the error "Exceeded Download Limit".

By: blue_beetle

blue_beetle — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:23:40 -0800

Bad email validation, doesn't accept a "+" in the email address. non-epic fail.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:23:54 -0800

As she indicated upthread, the wife grabbed this last night (the first collection of free tracks, anyway) and we listened to it on the way into work today. It's pretty good for a purely instrumental work, though I am forced to admit that one of the things that I like most about Trent is his voice, so hopefully the full CDs offer more lyrically oriented stuff.

By: grabbingsand

grabbingsand — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:25:17 -0800

Well, it looks like the straight-up download route is rife with instability, which is a shame. Frankly, I was hoping optimistically for a bit more preparedness. After all, if artists are going to take one lesson from In Rainbows regarding distribution, you would think that they might remember also just how quickly the Radiohead e-commerce servers were overwhelmed by fans that wanted only to fork over their cash. Perhaps things will improve this evening. Maybe I'll get a second, better download link from customer service. Of course, having paid already the artist for the album directly, I could just seek it out via Pirate Bay or similar.

By: distant figures

distant figures — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:26:57 -0800

quin - it's entirely instrumental

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:36:45 -0800

I've never fawned over Reznor, but I've always respected his talents as an artist. I wasn't crazy about Year Zero (and I have a boner for concept albums..oh wait..the kids call it an ARG, right?) and only liked a couple of songs off of With Teeth. This tastes much like The Fragile, but very much not like the Fragile (which is my favorite way to hear an artist advance). I'm really impressed with what I'm hearing so far (Track 2 had me near tears). It feels very emotionally resonant and raw - hell, he did this in only 10 weeks, so there's not TOO much polish on any of it. Then again, it may sound as good as it does because of the price (free hot dogs always taste better, no?).

By: PenDevil

PenDevil — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 09:57:19 -0800

The big thing here is the $75 edition with multi-tracks for remixes. I'll bet aspiring producers out there will be itching to get their hands on it.

By: quin

quin — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:06:10 -0800

it's entirely instrumental Thanks for letting me know. Ah well, I liked what I heard well enough even without the vocals. I'm sure it'll grow on me; his stuff always does.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:20:26 -0800

I love how this is supposedly some new internet-friendly music industry business model that has you paying out $75 for a package that pushes a blu-ray disc onto you that, chances are, you're going to have to buy a blu-ray player to use.

By: Chunder

Chunder — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:28:28 -0800

I'm assuming a couple of things here: 1) The garageband/multi-track version which are on the deluxe and ultra-deluxe versions will presumably make their way onto the usual remix.nin.com site, available for members to download and play with - just like virtually every other NIN track. 2) Older, rare NIN stuff tends to go for silly money sometimes. $300 is a fair whack of change for the ultra-deluxe pack, but as an investment? I'm torn... but the £:$ rate is pretty favourable... but would I ever actually want to sell it... and where would I store it... argh!

By: Freaky

Freaky — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:41:15 -0800

I nearly bought the Deluxe edition, except when it came to pay, s&h to the UK was $49.95. Ah haha. Hahaha. I bought the 2 CD pack instead. And my FLAC download just told me I'm out of download attempts, bah, I guess wget -c was a bad idea. Someone hurry up and post it to Usenet.

By: treepour

treepour — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:16:49 -0800

However, this album, instrumental and ambient, is exactly what I've wanted to hear from him for years. Same here -- listened to about 1/3 of it now, and it's just terrific. I personally can't stand his voice (exception being the Downward Spiral, where the vocals are heavily processed) or lyrics, so it's great to listen to all these amazing, raw sounds without those distractions.

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:45:41 -0800

awesome.

By: Remy

Remy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:18:21 -0800

The big thing here is the $75 edition with multi-tracks for remixes. I'll bet aspiring producers out there will be itching to get their hands on it. The Year Zero remix album also came with a data DVD of all the multi-tracks for Year Zero. Since a lot of people are having download issues, and because the work is licensed under good ol' BY-NC-SA, I'm willing to send the 320 MP3 version to any MeFi user who's having issues downloading from the official site. Forward me your receipt (my email is in my profile; feel free to blank out bits you're not comfortable with me seeing) and I'll send you the link. (Why not share with people who haven't paid? Come on, it's $5 for the download only version. Besides, I don't need my bandwidth killed too.)

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:46:37 -0800

Also, a far better band released their latest album for free today: The Charlatans.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:50:25 -0800

FYI: $6.99 shipping for the 2xCD version. So, $16.99 total. Fair enough, considering there's no middleman.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:56:21 -0800

One more thing--time may prove me wrong, but I think the $300 price tag for the ultra-magical edition will ultimately cripple demand for it, considering that there's already a common version of the material. Even though there's only 2,500 copies, I see them being available for quite a while--years, I'd expect.

By: blaneyphoto

blaneyphoto — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:05:44 -0800

FYI: Pennywise will be giving away their new album, "Reason to Believe" starting March 25th.

By: voltairemodern

voltairemodern — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:07:24 -0800

Thanks for posting this, I don't frequent his site anymore and didn't hear about the new album. Really interesting so far.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 18:57:19 -0800

I think it's pretty amazing how identifiable his work is. Five seconds in, it had to be NIN. Not bad for instrumentals.

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:32:51 -0800

I'm really digging it. Very interesting album. I was somewhat surprised at how short the songs are. Sometimes it works in their favor, but on the stand-out tracks I'm left wishing that they carried on a bit longer.

By: DecemberBoy

DecemberBoy — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 23:44:24 -0800

Whether you like NIN's music or not (I don't, although I used to and I'll occasionally put on Pretty Hate Machine for nostalgia purposes), Reznor really should be commended for things like this. He's doing a lot to push towards a new business model for the music industry, one that cuts out the predatory labels and gives all the power to the artist and is viable for the digital age. Bravo, Trent. I may even buy the record anyway just to support his efforts, plus the main thing I dislike about NIN is the juvenile lyrics, so maybe the instrumentals will be enjoyable.

By: kryptondog

kryptondog — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:16:48 -0800

I know what you mean, DecemberBoy. To this day (and I'm just a fraction of the fan I was when I was younger), I can be awe-struck by the sound of an NIN song even while the lyrics make me cringe slightly. For all Trent's talent, he's never been a strong songwriter. My final verdict on Ghosts I-IV: There's about 8 songs that don't captivate me, but the rest is pure NIN sonic mindfuckery (and that's not bad given the price and the sheer number of songs). It really gets under your skin. It lacks a sense of unity, but I feel that Trent wasn't terribly concerned about that.

By: King Bee

King Bee — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:19:52 -0800

Prospero - The ultra-magical edition has sold out already.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:29:58 -0800

Yeah, I was about to come here to post that time has proved me wrong in a major, major way.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:40:58 -0800

Also: (1) this music is pretty good, but good enough to merit a $300 collectible edition? Even with the bonus doodads and the signing and numbering, I'm not seeing $300 there--the profit margin on it must be insane. Maybe a lot of people bought it with the intent of flipping it on eBay? The Halo numbering does encourage the collector's impulse. (2) To state the obvious, if that's the kind of demand he can gin up with nearly zero advance publicity, then Reznor will never have to deal with a record label again.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:36:36 -0800

this music is pretty good, but good enough to merit a $300 collectible edition? Good news! You no longer have to worry about those $300 editions, as they've sold completely out.

By: Prospero

Prospero — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:38:56 -0800

Yes, sparkletone: I knew that when I posted.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:39:48 -0800

And! I totally should've previewed. A lesson I will never learn! But, yeah. I've met people who would, if they had the cash at the time, drop $300 on a swank, signed edition of a new NIN album. I wouldn't, but it's not at all implausible to me. I know we'll never be certain, but I'd be really curious to see what the production costs on that thing are. If I recall, radiohead have indicated that they were breaking even on the limited-edition In Rainbows box set. I have to think Trent did a better than that here.

By: matt_od

matt_od — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:07:04 -0800

The Uber Sold Out Edition is already making some people a profit on ebay.

By: mrgrimm

mrgrimm — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:00:50 -0800

The Uber Sold Out Edition is already making some people a profit on ebay. Well, theoretically. It ended with 0 bids, however. I found the free Ghosts tracks elsewhere, and search MeFi to see who posted it... it's OK. Reminds me a little of Eno too. Free Charlatans?! Sweet!

By: Chunder

Chunder — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:30:49 -0800

Some people are obviously desperate for the ultra deluxe version - although the auction linked to my matt_od didn't get any bids, others have done: USD1,200, USD1,500, and USD1,225. Crazy. That said, I really like the 9 tracks of the free download (half of them more than the others) and I can't wait to get the full version... and I'm very glad now that I bit the bullet and decided to go for the big box set whilst it was available.

By: mysticalfairy

mysticalfairy — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:00:02 -0800

sweet