Earlier I posted on some disgruntled Radiohead fans who paid to download the band's latest offering, only to be disappointed with the sound quality. I also made a general observation, based on Seattle-area user comments on Yelp.com, that many locals were willing to shell out a seemingly generous $10 for "In Rainbows."

Well, the results (or at least a slice of the results, gathered from members of comScore Inc.'s database) are in.

Turns out $10 is a fairly generous offer, since 62 percent of those monitored by comScore opted to download the album for free.

More U.S. users (60 percent) than U.K. users (52 percent) took advantage of the opportunity. Worldwide, 62 percent decided not to pay.

It's not clear from comScore's website how evenly the members of its database are distributed throughout the word. Apparently, 1.2 million people worldwide visited the "In Rainbows" site during the first 29 days of October, the company's report states.

Of those who did pay, the U.S. average was $5.72 (converted from Euros). Paying Brits offering up pocket change to the tune of about $3.59.

Perhaps that's due to some bad math on the part of U.S. users, who haven't kept up with the flailing exchange rate?

In any case, the lesson I'm taking from all this is... (drum roll please)...

Offering your newest album as a free download (minus a few perks that are only available to retail customers) will get you publicity for months on end.

A few bigwigs at comScore have their own take on the matter. And you can read about it (for free) right here.