But that doesn't mean you should. You're not Lars Ulrich: "I was like, 'Wow, this is how it works.' I figured if there is anybody that has a right to download 'Death Magnetic' for free, it's me." Still, nice to know that nearly 10 years after his "Napster Bad" days, he's finally figuring out what exactly he was waging a futile war against. Better late than never. [Blabbermouth]

Unfortunately, the vinyl was made from the same mix as the CD, so the distortion is still there. However, it is fairly standard practice to make separate masters for separate formats, and Sheperd's analysis reveals that the analog distortion on the vinyl tracks have less clipping (although the difference is minimal) compared to the the CD version. In reality, this is probably a moot point given the fact that a hardcore Metallica fan is far more likely to to dig up GHIII tracks than buy a turntable. However, even the thought of turning to vinyl these days further illustrates the point that record labels need to re-focus their attention back on quality. [Mastering Media Thanks Michael!]

Industry insiders claim that they feel the need to sacrifice dynamic range for increased volume because digital music makes it possible to squeeze all of the sound into a narrow, high-volume range. This temptation is pressed further when you try and optimize sound for the iPod's crappy lo-fi earbuds. They are under the assumption that this drives sales. It is clear to me that the record industry needs to shift their focus from quantity and put it squarely back on quality. I mean—who are they trying to impress anyway? Do people really care who has the loudest album anymore? According to a recent WSJ article, even metal fans are complaining that things are getting out of hand. Do you agree? [Gawker via WSJ]

As a result of all this, the filesharing community is already hard at work breaking down the GH3 version to isolate the tracks. There is also a petition floating around arguing for a re-mix or remaster of the album—but they claim that the brick-wall limiting and compression was done before mastering, so they feel that it is basically a loss at this point. It's a shame too because the music itself has been well-received. [Mastering Media via Music Radar via Wired and Petition]