There’s no simple way to say this, but In Rainbows, Radiohead’s latest album, is absolutely fantastic. I’ve had it for less than a week, and I’ve barely listened to anything else. It’s the same haunting, energetic, cynical Radiohead that wrote Street Spirit, Karma Police, There There, and a thousand other songs of similar repute, but In Rainbows, which transitions between fast and slow, heavy and light, is brilliant all to itself. I’ve replayed Reckoner itself after just about every other song, even after itself, because even if you tell me it isn’t the most beautiful song, I won’t believe you. It’s something very special. Not a bad bargain for 10¢, right?

It’s at that point that I start to feel ashamed for paying so little. I would have paid more, even if little of the money went to the band itself, and the publicity from the digital downloads would give Radiohead enough revenue in time. Because I feel the music is worth more than just 10¢. Given the opportunity — and a credit card — I would have paid at least… at least what?

And that’s where the concept sort of leaves me. What am I paying for anyway? The music itself? The sounds weaving in and out of my ears? Or the convenience of the format? Or the band’s creativity? Or the band itself? What is it that is actually worth my money — and why isn’t it necessarily the music?

It’s up to you.

That’s all it said. “It’s up to you.” Imagine being given the opportunity to pay any price — anything — for something you desperately wanted. Any price. It’s easy to put a price on something that is material, but what about something ephemeral? Something digital? What price should you pay then, for something that exists as something you cannot see, but something you can still feel and experience?

I paid 10¢. And believe me, even if the album is worth a million times that price, even if I had paid more — I really ought to just memorize that credit card number — the experience is still the same. I wouldn’t have gotten anything more for $5 nor anything less for 5¢. The music itself, as Danny says, is priceless. Having listened to the album, top to bottom, song by song, I couldn’t agree more.