As Radiohead venture out on their own with In Rainbows (signing with XL for non-North American distribution), their former non-North American distributor, Parlophone, is looking to cash in on the band one last time this Christmas. With six studio albums and one live record in the vault, Parlophone will release all of Radiohead’s EMI output, from Pablo Honey to Hail to the Thief (sans singles and EPs), in three different formats, available through Parlophone but not Radiohead’s own merchandiser, Waste. The first is a seven-disc box set that presents all of the albums in digipaks, complete with full artwork, packaged in a solid white monolith. That set carries a price tag of £39.99, which is roughly what fans spent on the discbox version of In Rainbows. The second version is all seven albums in DRM-free, high-quality 320 kbps MP3s, with digital artwork, for £34.99. Then there’s the “Limited Edition” 4-gig USB stick, which features all the albums in CD quality WAV files as well as the digital artwork. At a price of £79.99, this item only warrants mentioning because it’s housed in the iconic “Radiohead Bear.” Still, considering the band just gave away its new album for free, fans will likely be hard-pressed to drop $160 on MP3s of albums everyone already has.

It’s interesting to note that the USB stick is also twice the price of the actual, physical CD box set. Based on what EMI’s owner has recently said about the MP3 age being a “wake-up call” for the record industry, it seems like Parlophone has come to terms with digital music, even though those terms are priced egregiously high. Miles Leonard, managing director of Parlophone, says, “We are delighted to offer new and existing fans the chance to get Radiohead’s albums in a box set. We are particularly excited about the USB stick, which gives fans an easy and portable way to carry the box set and provides another way of bridging the world between on-line and off-line content.” Purchasing any of the three gives buyers access to “stream special footage,” which is both vague and intriguing. All three sets are available December 10th, roughly one week after the discbox version of In Rainbows hits mailboxes worldwide with an album’s worth of the latest RH material.

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