In Rainbows is the first Radiohead album on iTunes

In Rainbows is on sale in the iTunes Store, the first Radiohead album to be sold there; Billboard reported on 2 January that it had just gone live. The files are 256kbps and carry no copy protection, a better deal than the 160kbps MP3s in the band's download in October, which drew complaints about the sound. In the US store it costs $9.99 as an iTunes Plus release.

The band had kept their albums off iTunes because it sells songs singly, and they wanted their records heard whole. Until now the only Radiohead songs there were a few on soundtracks and compilations, though Thom Yorke's The Eraser has been on the store since it came out in 2006. Christina Warren of Engadget puts the change down to the band having left EMI and now controlling the licensing of their new record. The CD came out on 31 December through XL Recordings outside North America, and on 1 January in the US through the band's TBD imprint with ATO.

The older albums, which EMI still owns, remain off iTunes. Amazon's DRM-free MP3 store, Engadget reports, has most of them, though not Kid A.