{"id":86,"date":"2007-10-12T15:24:04","date_gmt":"2007-10-12T21:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.planetmanuel.com\/dirk\/?p=86"},"modified":"2010-09-23T04:57:21","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T10:57:21","slug":"radiohead-ate-my-pc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.planetmanuel.com\/dirk\/radiohead-ate-my-pc\/","title":{"rendered":"Radiohead Ate My PC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unless you’ve just emerged from a coma (in which case you have probably have better things to do than read this ‘blog) you’ll no doubt be aware that Radiohead<\/strong>‘s latest album In Rainbows<\/em> was released\u00c2\u00a0last Wednesday (10th October 2007).<\/p>\n

In typically contrary style, Radiohead have eschewed the traditional release approach, and have made the new album available as a (effectively) free download.\u00c2\u00a0 This is not a new tactic – Dead Heart Bloom<\/strong> did the same thing with both of their first two albums.\u00c2\u00a0 What made Radiohead unique is that they left the price up to the individual purchaser – “It’s up to you”, they said.\u00c2\u00a0 A snap survey by CNN<\/a> revealed that people were typically paying the equivalent of the price of a CD – around $9.00 in the U.S. although I’d bet it’s more than that in the UK now.\u00c2\u00a0 But even if the average is only half of that, I don’t think Radiohead will make a loss on the deal.<\/p>\n

The album is also being released\u00c2\u00a0in physical form – in December – for the\u00c2\u00a0slightly\u00c2\u00a0extravagant price of \u00c2\u00a340.00.\u00c2\u00a0 Being a\u00c2\u00a0total feelophile (I like tangible media) I’ve plumped for that option – mainly because it also comes with an additional CD of tracks that didn’t make the album, and being a completist, I must<\/span> have these.\u00c2\u00a0 The physical edition also comes with two vinyl records – apparently containing the same tracks as the CDs – which strikes me as a complete waste of plastic and money.\u00c2\u00a0 Very few people have\u00c2\u00a0a record deck these days, which means that these will probably never make it out of the box (apart from to show to your – no doubt unimpressed – kids whilst\u00c2\u00a0enthusing “When I were a lad, all music came like this!”).\u00c2\u00a0 I’d\u00c2\u00a0have been happier to see a free T-shirt in the box, a’la<\/em> Frank Zappa<\/strong>‘s Beat The Boots<\/em> boxes (although my brother was storing my boxes for me, so I guess they have gone now…) but I’m sure Thom knows best.<\/p>\n

The \u00c2\u00a340 boxed sets are being “made to order” – hence the long order time (now until December).\u00c2\u00a0 So just to make sure that the faithful (and cash-rich) few don’t miss out between now and then, if you purchase (pre-order and pre-pay for) the boxed set, Radiohead’s merchandising arm (called W.A.S.T.E.) also send you a link to download the album entirely for free (and not the minimum 39p the download-only cheapskates pay).\u00c2\u00a0 Which I promptly did, on Wednesday night (having resisted the temptation to bunk off work early to do it).<\/p>\n

However, within minutes of\u00c2\u00a0my downloading the .zip file containing the non-DRM MP3s, my PC had slowed to an almost standstill, eventually seizing up entirely, refusing to respond to even CTRL-ALT-DELETE.\u00c2\u00a0 As a last resort,\u00c2\u00a0the wife used the “BRS” (Big Red Switch) option – as we used to call it at IBM – and powered it off, but then the damn thing wouldn’t power up again!\u00c2\u00a0 I checked and rechecked the connections, the power supply, I cracked the case and poked about inside with a screwdriver, but no joy.\u00c2\u00a0 Eventually I gave up and took it to Best Buy’s Geek Squad and had them look at it.\u00c2\u00a0 They got back to me today and announced that my motherboard had died, and I needed a new one.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 No, they couldn’t get one for me, so I had to call Dell myself, order one, and when it’s delivered in a week’s time, I can go back to Best Buy and get it fitted for a fee.\u00c2\u00a0 So now I’m without a PC for a week.\u00c2\u00a0 Again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Being sans <\/em>PC and with nothing else to do, I’ve had a bit of time to mull the whole incident over.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m beginning to think that my PC woes are far from an unlucky coincidence.\u00c2\u00a0 Radiohead’s masterpiece is OK Computer<\/em>, which famously documents the continuing alienation of the individual at the hands of technology.\u00c2\u00a0 Given Thom Yorke’s apparent dislike for technology, it seems strange that he’s made his latest offering available in a manner whereby it is impossible to interface with another human being during the whole ‘purchase’, and everything is handled via Radiohead’s computers sending automated e-mails to my computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Strange.\u00c2\u00a0 Unless, of course…there is no new album!<\/span> And it’s all really some kind of guerilla art statement to re-emphasize the power technology continues to wield over us.\u00c2\u00a0 Thom Yorke is on a John Connor trip, striking a blow for the humans, by killing off our PCs one by one!\u00c2\u00a0 Well, bravo, Mr. Yorke!\u00c2\u00a0 You win again.\u00c2\u00a0 NOK Computer, indeed.<\/p>\n

And the coup de grace<\/em>?\u00c2\u00a0 My PC died before I had had the chance to sync my iPod, so I don’t even have a copy of the MP3s that I can listen to!\u00c2\u00a0 Best case I have to wait a week until I get my PC back (with the kids whining about not being able to do their homework, and the wife whining about not being able to Skype her mother – it’s death by a thousand cuts!), and worst case (if Thom really has destroyed my PC) waiting until I get the boxed set in December.\u00c2\u00a0 By which time\u00c2\u00a0Radiohead will have probably shut down every computer network in the country and switched off the national power supply to boot.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, at least I’ll be able to play the vinyl version on my old kerosene record-player…<\/p>\n

Monday 15th <\/strong>The revolution continues. This morning my handheld PC (HP iPaq 4700) has stopped working as well. Now I’m down to just my laptop. If this is my last post, you know who to blame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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