What was it about "pay what you want" did you not understand?

I'm not really big on music. I mean, I like it, but it always seems like a lot of upkeep. You have to listen to the radio or something to keep up with the latest songs and artists (or date someone in the industry :-P), and if you really want something, you have to go buy it (or get your cassette recorder ready the next time they play it on the radio), and of course, no one has a CD player anymore, it's all about those "iPod" things, and you download music through the Internet...it's just a lot of work.

But then a few months ago I heard this story on NPR about how Radiohead is offering its new album for download only and that people can pay however much they want, and I knew I had to get it. I thought for days about how much I was going to pay for the album. I've purchased actual Radiohead CDs before, so I've paid my fair share of "ridiculous music business overhead tax", and I thought that this would be my first chance to stick it to the man and just take that music for free, because I deserve it. But then I thought, NO, Radiohead is being nice, and I should support people who are nice! So I thought maybe I would give them 10 bucks, because if it were a CD, I'd probably pay 10 bucks for it when it ends up in the bargain bin at Borders. After several days of waffling, I decided I would listen to my coworker and download it for free, but then go back and pay a dollar for every song that was good.

That was three months ago. And every time I listened to those songs since then, I kept thinking, oh shoot, I was going to go back and pay real money for this stuff! But then I think, do I really have to? I mean, I downloaded it, I'm enjoying it, they let me have this for free, why bother at this point in time? I mean I think a month ago they had a follow-up NPR story and it said that most people in the US didn't pay anything for the album. I wonder if that means that people in the US are just cheap or they feel entitled to free music since that's why Al Gore invented the Internet. But do I really want to be one of those people that steals music, like that little girl on those old Napster ads who is in jail because she downloaded music?

Aaaanyhooo....I went back to the site the other day and paid 4.5 pounds for the album (a dollar per song I liked...I think I liked them all except maybe one)...plus they charged me a fee for using a credit card. So it was almost as if I went to the store and bought the damn CD anyway. I think I just felt guilty for not paying in the first place. But now I feel like a sucker.