New Surprise U2 Album! Get it Free!
 

U2 just released a new surprise album, "Songs of Innocence". It can be downloaded from iTunes right now for free- I'm getting ready to listen. :-)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...-free-20140909

Yes, I'm glad i'm not the only one interested on here :D Was going to see if there was a thread already. I'll be grabbing this once I'm home from work. I'm willing to bet it's a gooder...Seems to really have come from the heart and soul of the band musing about their relevance in todays culture, etc. Stoked to hear what they have to say.

On the first listen through, I like it! :-) I'm not a huge U2 fan, but I like some of their stuff. I can certainly get down with free music, in any case! :cool:

Exactly, same here! :cool:

Thanks for letting us know! I like some songs of them, too. U2 is a great band.
And free music is always good. Can't believe they did that...

I'm not one to object to them offering the album for free but I thought we'd at least have had the choice to download it rather than having it forced upon us like junk mail.

I still had to download it- it wasn't in my library like they said it was going to be; maybe I just didn't wait long enough. :lol:

I see your point, but they did that purposely- the intent being that people might click on it who probably wouldn't otherwise, because it was there (Bono said as much). Those people wouldn't go through the effort to download it.

I guess if people don't want it, they could always delete it, just like tossing junk mail. ;)

I hated this on first listen, but after putting it on repeat more times than I care to admit...it's grown on me :lol: There's some really good stuff on this. I think I prefer No Line on the Horizon and even How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb to it, but it definitely has its moments. The first four and the last four are solid. The middle three I can do without.

Every Breaking Wave, though :drool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/29157217

Made me smile

As a response to the criticism they've had to release a tool to delete the album from people's accounts.

Perhaps they won't think that forcing an album down every iTunes user's throats is such a good idea in future.

On the one hand, I think it might have been better if they'd offered the album as on option. On the other hand, I think the backlash has been a bit over the top.

Completely agreed...It's actually shocking...U2 never intended to "force their album down people's throats". I've never seen so many people angry about something that is free, being offered on a free platform (iTunes). If you don't like it, set iTunes so it doesn't copy that album to your device, or use the tool to remove it, or just go onto your hard drive and delete it. Or turn off auto downloads. There are so many ways to make it OK, and I am sure U2 and Apple will not do this again. But holy ***, the backlash is like someone committed a terrible crime...The backlash is what appals me the most, not the mistake Apple made. Everyone makes mistakes and its difficult to please everyone when your running a large platform.

I for one am thrilled about this album. Been listening to it all weekend while I work. It's a great album and I'm glad I have it :D

Funny isn't it, wish my life was so easy that that was all I had to complain about

I agree that it probably should have been an optional download and perhaps advertised to make those that might want it aware that they can get it for free but I think automatically putting it into everyone's 'cloud' is not all that different to sending them junk mail. It's no big deal, but you didn't ask for it, you don't want it and it's not of interest to you. It's just annoying when you've got to then go and remove it from your cloud.

Yeah. Modern life is HARD.

Quite frankly I've got far better things to be doing with my life than finding a way of permanently deleting an album that was forced upon me by a group that I don't particularly like. :evil:

Basically it's the same as having some free software installed, that you find handy. And then find a stupid toolbar, or something similar, is also installed that you never asked for.

There are people in the world that are happy with that toolbar. But there will be others that find it annoying to get something they didn't ask for in the first place. The U2 album is that toolbar and can be freaking annoying when it gets there uninvited.

And yes, that toolbar can also be easily removed but it still pisses me off when it 'installs itself'. And I bet you would also be less amused when it was the new Justin Bieber album (or any other artist you dislike)

There is no reason at all to assume you should be happy when you get something for free. Especially when you didn't ask for it in the first place ;)

Me too. So i didn't.

If they never intended to force their album down people's throats then why did they agree to it being automatically included in people's accounts whether they've asked for it or not?

Most likely they didn't see it as forcing it on anyone.

Apple: "How would you like for 500 million people to get a copy of your album?"

U2: "Uh, let us think about it".

:lol:

If even 1% of those 500 million people listen to the thing, that's 5 million people- probably more listeners than they might have gotten otherwise, even including illegal downloads. And even bad publicity is still publicity.

I've actually thought about that; I imagine I might have been mildly annoyed initially, never bothered to listen, then wouldn't give it a second thought.

Nope. Those toolbars annoy me too. But that's because they change my screen, my favourites, my homepage, maybe install other tracking software, maybe stop some websites working properly.

A free album does nothing. Just sits there wanting to be loved.

Hmmm, but you agree then. Whatever the reason is you hate those toolbars... it's your reason.

There are actually people who find good use in them. Basically some people consider them helpful. A gift that was installed, "that just sits there to be loved". It's a matter of interest.

A free album has no use unless you care for the content. I don't have i-tunes as I don't value it. But from what I understand it's manifested in your library (or whatever) which can be equally anoying as a toolbar. So the term 'sits there waiting to be loved' is also subjective.

People who had their devices set to automatically download purchased content had it "magically" appear in their libraries. Otherwise, it just stays in your purchases (somewhere in the ether) unless you choose to download it. There is an option (one click) to "hide" that purchase so that you don't even see it- problem solved.

The difference is that the toolbar can interfere with your usage of other programs or websites; the album doesn't affect anything outside of iTunes, and even then all it does is take up space unless you play it.

If you've got automatic downloads enabled and you're using shuffle on your device, you may end up listening to it without actively choosing to.

There are going to be people who are happy to have had a surprise album and are really grateful to have received the album for free. There are others who will be rather annoyed at the lack of choice they had over receiving an album that they didn't want. I personally don't think either are in the wrong and both are entitled to their opinion and I think that Apple are the ones at fault for not giving users the choice about it.

Who are these nutty people? :nuts:

Put it this way: if this was a Meat Loaf album and Meat and the record company had come up with the idea - would you all be bitching quite so vocally about having had free music 'forced' upon you?

I'm guessing not.

C'mon, it's hardly the crime of the century.

I'd welcome the free music myself, just as some people have done with the U2 album but I'd also understand people's frustration and annoyance if they didn't want it.

After all there's not a single piece of music or artist that is to everyone's tastes and I think that is one of the issues with this automatic download.

I get that :cool: And part of me agrees with the almost-could-be-violating-our-privacy part, but at the same time it's akin to a free CD coming through the door. And I just find it hard to understand the mentality of 'how dare they send me this free CD' over 'cool, look, a free CD'. I know that not everyone likes the band (me included), but I don't think it's as offensive an issue as some people are making out.

After all, it's easily ignorable if you don't want to listen to it.

If a CD arrives through the post and you don't want it, you just give it away, sell it or throw it away. Digital content is there on your computer/device (if you've got automatic downloads enabled) and removing it is not always simple if you're not all that technologically minded (like my parents - they had no idea how to remove the album).

I can appreciate what you and everyone else are saying and the main issue for me was the fact that there was no element of choice about whether the album was added to the accounts of iTunes users. Hopefully if Apple consider offering an album free again, they'll consider putting something like a box for people to tick so people can decide whether they want it or not.

Then surely you just hit delete and stick it in the recycle bin (just like you would with a CD)? If you have automatic downloads enabled, aren't you basically just saying 'sure, I'll accept whatever you send my way'?

But I see what you're saying. Maybe a solution would be for Apple to develop a separate folder for all unsolicited/free downloads? That way there's still choice (to import into your library or delete the album).

I don't use iTunes, but my partner does, and she hasn't had the whole U2 problem as of yet.

However, I still think that if this had come from camp Loaf every single person here (except for Evil One) would be defending this right now!

Rather foolishly perhaps, I didn't think that they'd be adding albums to my devices with it but have since disabled it.

Lesson learned. ;)

You'll probably find that most people would be defending it yes but then again this is a Meat Loaf forum and I'm sure that if you were to go to a U2 forum, you'd find the majority of the fanbase defending it.

I'm not sure that I would be defending it entirely and would certainly be able to appreciate people's annoyance about it. I think this kind of thing could open the artist up to criticism from people who had previously ignored them and their music.

U2
We sold our soul to Rock & Roll and it didn't even cost a thing.

I think we are running away from the original subject. It's not a mater if you enjoy or hate the album. As I stated before, the reason why you enjoy or hate an unaware installed object is subjective to each and everyone.

The issue here is that it was installed unanounced.

If the good people of I-tunes wanted you to download the album they could, instead of let it autom. download it in your library, give you an option: "Do you want the new U2 album for free, click OK or No Thanks".

Once you mindless allow programms to install albums, programms or other stuff on your computer, because it's for free, there is no end to it.

Besides:
doesn't sound like it was something that seems to easy to remove
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...r-9745028.html

And we're not the only ones discussing it:
http://digiday.com/brands/achtung-ap...free-u2-album/ (among many other on line articles)

Although I must say I love some of the tweets, as they made me laugh:

Sounds like a plan to me :cool:

You're probably right (though I have no clue how U2 fans feel), which just illustrates that what some people are reacting to isn't the process, but the choice of artist.

I think herein lies the real issue. I have never used automatic downloads, and I don't use the Cloud.

People complaining about free music....oh my god. GET OVER YOURSELVES. ITS FREE MUSIC.

I'd be more inclined to see it as people react to the process as it was conducted on this occasion, but are no doubt mollified if the choice of artist happens to be one they follow ;)

Didn't affect me at all and doubtless never will .. :lol: But I can understand people viewing it as one more type of uninvited, unsolicited spam which grates

This is a case of wrong promotional tool at the wrong time. Within the past couple of weeks, various CLOUD type services have been hit with hackers, scammers, and information theft has began to run rampant with these types of services. The issue here is perception. Consumer’s negative reactions to the album being automatically uploaded to their cloud without their knowledge is on the outside – just that. However, subconsciously…the consumer is skittish (at best) about their confidence in the cloud at the moment. I really do not believe it is a matter of it being a U2 album or being given away for free. I honestly believe at the root, this is a consumer confidence issue.

That's probably more accurate; I still don't see this as being any more annoying than the normal junk mail, product samples or spam. I do think some of the jokes are funny, though! :lol:

Good points, and maybe a learning experience for some (as Jenna mentioned). I think some people are too eager to sign up for the latest thing in the name of "convenience" or for novelty value, without fully thinking of the implications.