Hey Radiohead, it's awesome that you're making your new CD available to me for whatever I want to pay for it, and I want to reward your progressive thinking with my checkbook (or credit card).
I own all of your CDs, and I've paid for every one of them. I'd like to buy your new album at the going rate of iTunes music, 99 cents per song.
But you're not working with me, Thom Yorke.
First, Radiohead.com doesn't contain any links to download the new album.
Eventually, I found the site, inrainbows.com, which doesn't contain much information, other than telling me the album is available for pre-order until Oct. 10 (which is today).
It's slower than molasses, but finally I got to the shopping cart. Which, of course, asks what I want to pay -- in pounds and pence. I have no idea what the currency conversion is, but there's a link to an external site. I entered $12 -- without a track listing, that seems like a fair price -- and it told me that's 5.90252 pounds.
OK, I entered that, clicked "pay now," and the page just kept reloading without any updates. I've been working on this for about 20 minutes, and I'm losing patience.
And if I'm buying internationally, what about foreign charges on my credit card? I doubt there's documentation on that ... if only I could get that far.
Radiohead is one of my favorite bands, and I'm really excited for this new album, but the guys could've given this a little more thought. This is one of the shadier transactions I've encountered online in a long time. I understand that there are lots of people trying to buy right now, but they should've considered server capacity, international orders and just a little usability.
Half and hour in now ... the page keeps cycling through, whether I enter six pounds or zero.
And now I give up. But really, I tried to give Radiohead my money today; they just wouldn't take it.
Update: it's 12:15 p.m., and I still can't download the album. I know Radiohead is a band and not an Internet company, but if they're asking for my money (and they sort of are), it's really their obligation to straighten this out.
Upate: Success at 1:25 p.m. That's a mere three hours after I began this adventure. Time to start enjoying the new album!
Update: 1:59 p.m., just finished listening to the album for the first time (skipping through a few songs since I couldn't handle the suspense). It was worth the wait. Wish it rocked a little more, but it's gonna be a classic. My favorite after one listen: "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" and "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi."
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
