Today I bought the new NIN album, Ghosts, an instrumental album that was suddenly released last weekend now that Trent Reznor is a free agent, finally out of his contract with Interscope Records. He’s offering the album up in the following kick-ass options:
- FREE: The first quarter of the album (Ghosts I) to download
- $5: All 36 tracks (Ghosts I-IV) as a high-quality digital download, includes PDF artwork
- $10: The above download now and a 2-CD set to be shipped in April
- $75: Deluxe set with 2-CD’s, extra discs, fancy book & packaging
- $300: Ultra Deluxe set, limited to 2500 signed copies, which includes the above and more such as the album on vinyl
I picked up the $10 version (call me crazy, but I like having CD’s), however with shipping the total was $16.99. While $6.99 is a bit much just to ship a couple CD’s, it’s still less than most double-CD sets would cost on Amazon. And, unlike Amazon, I got to download the album immediately (something I wish they’d start offering if you buy physical CD’s that they also offer on their MP3 service). I chose the high-quality MP3’s as my download (320kbps LAME encoded, fully tagged, each track even has it’s own artwork) though they offer the album in other, all DRM-free, options.
The album is really good… very good background “listen to while working” music. I’m impressed. And happy with the experience. I’m also personally happy to ‘stick it to the man’ again, much like purchasing Radiohead’s In Rainbows a few months back.
Oh, also, the Ultra Deluxe version reportedly sold out in just a couple days earning Trent & Co $750,000. Nice work.