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About a month ago, we mentioned Radiohead’s social experiment of offering fans a choose-your-own-price way for downloading the band’s latest album (with the option of free). As I had mentioned, simple economics dictates that the most likely price in this case will be the minimum. And I was right, sort of.

Only 38% of downloaders paid something while the 62% majority paid nothing. Globally, the average price paid was $6; the average in the U.S. was around $8. But those numbers ignore the freeloaders. Including the “no pay” crowd, the average price was around $2.26 globally and $3.23 in the U.S. Of those who did pay something, 17% paid below $4 (the most common category) but 12% paid between $8 and $12, a price in line with iTunes or Amazon.

Was it a success? Yes and no, depending on how you look at it.

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Radiohead has decided to follow Prince’s lead by trying a new distribution model for their music. The band announced that the new album, In Rainbows, will only be available via Radiohead.com. And the consumer picks the price for the digital download. Time made it sound like “free” was even an option, though another source explains that there is a minimum charge of 1 pence plus a 45 pence credit card processing fee. In dollars, about $0.94, and that’s for the entire album.

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So everyone and their dog is talking about Amazon’s announcement today to offer MP3 downloads. In brief, Amazon MP3 songs are DRM-free and start at $0.89/track with the top 100 best-selling albums priced no higher than $8.99. The store opened with 2 million songs from 80,000 artists. EMI and Universal are the two big labels on board. Song quality is even very high - 256 kbps. All of this, of course, is available via iTunes for $1.29/track or $9.99/album.

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Purdue University announced this morning that they received 47 new settlement letters from the Recording Industry Mafia Association of America.

Purdue spokesperson Jeanne Norberg said: “As an Internet service provider, Purdue will forward these letters when the user can be accurately identified.” “Purdue will not voluntarily provide names to the RIAA. However, should those notified choose not to pay the settlement, the RIAA may obtain court-ordered subpoenas to obtain the individuals’ names.”

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Earlier today, Steve Jobs announced several new and updated iPods. With the exception of the iPod shuffle, every iPod now supports video. Even the nano!

The redesigned iPod nano (see top image) is said to provide 24 hours of audio and five hours of video playback on a single battery charge. The new iPod nano is available in a silver 4 gig version for $149, and an 8 gig version for $199 (available in several colors). (more…)

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) has an article out quoting the usual mix of analysts, speculators, and “people privy to Sony’s plans.” I must say that the article’s title of “Sony to Challenge Apple In TV, Movie Downloads” makes the news sound more exciting than it really is.

Perhaps I should give Sony a chance rather than point out the obvious that the company has a very long way to go. Meaning, it’s a bit of a late comer in an already crowded space (Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Netflix all compete here just to name the big boys). I suppose it’s true that first movers don’t always win, and there isn’t a clear leader yet. But good luck to Sony on this one…

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There is lots of buzz surrounding a special event Apple will be hosting next Wednesday. The general consensus is that Apple is introducing an iPod with more features. Forbes seems to think iPhone-like features are likely, such as a large, touch-sensitive display. Another possibility is that of a Wi-Fi receiver which would allow the iPod to browse the Internet and/or send and receive e-mail.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) brings cost into the equation by saying that Apple “is expected next week to introduce new versions of its digital music players that have more features, but cost the same.” The WSJ, however, doesn’t admit to its own speculation, instead relying on a new source: “Apple fan sites.” Here’s another excerpt:

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Wal-Mart is trying to step up its competition with Apple iTunes. The retail giant, which is already the No. 1 seller of recorded music because of CD sales, will now sell digital downloads of songs without any copy protection (DRM) via walmart.com for 94 cents a track, or $9.22 an album. The service will launch with music from two of the major record labels: Universal Music and EMI.

The company plans to continue offering its existing WMA protected format for other music downloads, which cost 88 cents a track but won’t work with iPods and plenty of other digital music players. Here’s what Kevin Swint, Wal-Mart senior director for digital media, had to say, “As we consistently strive to help our customers shop smart at Wal-Mart, our new ‘DRM-free’ MP3 digital tracks give them the ease and flexibility to play music on virtually any device at a great value.”

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