In an interview, Reznor said that he was “disheartened” by the number of people who downloaded and didn’t pay, but did he expect people to pay for something that they hadn’t heard? I have never felt comfortable buying an album that I have no idea what to expect. Even if it had Reznor’s involvement, people want to hear it before they download. Even 30 second samples on some services can be deceiving as to what a song can sound like.

A also agree that they probably should have had a way for the person purchasing to name their own price with a suggested price, again, similar to Magnatune.

I purchased the album in FLAC just as I did “I Don’t Know What I’m Doing” for archival reasons, the ability to make a CD, and for transcoding to Vorbis. I am glad that I am seeing more artists offer files in FLAC.

Though you could always suggest a default price. Magnatune’s been doing this for years and I think it’s a pretty good method.

A simple “Pay what you like — recommended: $5″ notice or default a) wouldn’t have scared off the lazy/indecisive b) would have allowed the true fans to pay more and c) would have given the remaining 126,127 consumers leeway to choose.

Would you rather get a dollar from some percentage of 126,127 people or nothing at all?

My guess is that a lot of people want to make a contribution, but become uncomfortable above a certain price point (say X). Giving an upper limit of Y makes people feel cheap it they pay X than they’re left with the choice of exceeding their price or feeling cheap. Given this choice they’re probably going to procrastinate, probably indefinitely, on paying. Setting a low, non-negotiable, price that’s probably < X can not only lead to additional purchases but will establish the precedent of paying for your work for those additional customers which can expand future sales.

I have no idea if the additional sales from the low price point exceeds the additional revenue from the high/no limit but given a convenient enough payment method it probably could.