Radiohead made the biggest splash in the music industry recently by giving away its new album online for free… or whatever you choose to pay for it. But the band certainly isn’t alone in trying to innovate and improve on an economic distribution model that is rapidly decaying. Much like in the movie biz, music artists are playing with ways to bundle digital files with tangible items. In the latest example, Matchbox Twenty has put its new album, Exile on Mainstream, on a USB bracelet, complete with 17 songs, a music video, band interviews, album art and customizable computer extras. The idea here is not just to elevate kitsch, but to add value and a legitimate revenue stream in the eternal war against digital piracy.

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SanDisk has unveiled TakeTV — a new line of USB accessories (4GB @ $99, 8GB @ $149) which, when docked, allow standard definition DivX, Xvid, and MPEG4 television playback. I don’t imagine the sneakernet media extender market is very large. In fact, Iomega tried something similar (using a hard drive, as opposed to flash) last year at a slightly higher price point ($220) which didn’t seem to gain any traction.

In conjunction with today’s hardware announcement, SanDisk is also taking the wraps off Fanfare, a video download service (in beta) offering both free and paid content - from partners such as CBS and Showtime. The DRM-protected video can currently be played back on PCs via TakeTV and, in the future, directly on select Sansa portable devices.

DeVillain’s $3370 Folding Electric Guitar

Adam Smith’s invisible hand is at work in the music download world. Apple apparently plans to announce tomorrow that it will drop the price of its DRM-free tunes from $1.29 to $.99. Coming on the heels of Amazon’s launch of its own MP3 store, this sounds like a bit of competitive pressure on the music download king. It was bound to happen. What’s amazing is that it has taken so long.

Also in tomorrow’s announcement, Apple plans to add some indie music labels to its iTunes Plus (DRM-free) service.

Thank you Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for opening your catalog to digital downloads. Led Zeppelin gets started this week on Verizon Wireless but, come November 13th, will also make songs available via iTunes and other services. Kevin Tofel, of jkOnTheRun, has loaned me his Zune so I may try out the all-you-can-eat Zune Pass if they get the Led out.

Even more progressive, and as you probably already know, Radiohead started selling their album online last week… for whatever price one chooses to pay. They managed to move 1.2 million downloads in the first 48 hours, though 1,200,000*0=0. Seriously, I’m sure they did bring in some money while cutting out the middle man. (This approach wouldn’t work for newer, lesser known, or lesser loved bands.) They’ve also generated a ton of press and goodwill, which will probably fill their coffers via concert ticket and merchandise sales. Oh yeah, you have to give up your contact info to make a purchase - which probably has an intrinsic value. However, it IS very cool to see the music industry continue to experiment as they fight to remain profitable in the age of BitTorrent.

As promised, the TiVo goodie bag giveaway is here! The lucky winner will receive the sexy TiVo Glo Remote (works with both Series2 and Series3/HD units), a 1 year subscription to Real Rhapsody on TiVo, plus a stuffed TiVo doll.

If you want in, please leave one comment. The catch is that you must provide a link to a prior comment you’ve left on ZNF, other than contests. (The comment date stamp is your permalink.) And if you’ve never left a comment, you have some incentive going forward.

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A periodic roundup of relevant news… from our other blogs:

• Why FiOS TV Doesn’t Need HD Yet: Connected Home 2 Go
• Fiber Fiber Everywhere: Connected Home 2 Go
• The Return of M&K Sound: TechLore
• TiVo’s PayPerPost Hook Up Is One Night Stand: Davis Freeberg
• Intel Gets Cable Religion: Connected Home 2 Go

Dave, TiVo CEO, TiVo Mascot

In honor of the new Rhapsody on TiVo service, TiVo hosted a gathering in NYC last night with RealNetworks. It featured the sort of presentations you’d expect from the CEOs, followed by a Jim Denney (VP, TiVo) product walk-thru. Then the band hit the stage.

A few interesting nuggets I dug up while quizzing Jim Denney and Robert Williams (VP, Real):

• Reconfirmed TiVoToGo and Multi-Room Viewing for Series3/TiVo HD are still on tap for November. (JD)
• Offical eSATA support coming very soon. No one would spill the beans on the possibility of TiVo-branded drives. (JD)
• No bundled Rhapsody/TiVo service discount at this time due to “economics of music.” (RW)
• Periodic updates of Rhapsody on TiVo application/service planned. (RW)

Hope Chris Harrison enjoyed his potentially short-lived gig as TiVo spokesperson. He delivered the funniest line of the evening… On stage… Twice: “TiVo is a whore.”

Some pics after the jump.

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