I was browsing the iTunes Music Store earlier and noticed something cool when I looked at the new Modest Mouse album, We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.  You could pre-order the CD just like any other album but when you did, it would charge your account the 99 cents now and download their one song, Dashboard.  When the CD is released, however, the balance of CD will download but you will be charged the full price of the CD minus the cost of the single – something new as far as I know.

People have been asking for this a long time and it looks as if they got it.  I’m not sure if its new to iTunes 7.1 only but nevertheless, its new to me and its something I’ve been looking for in my favorite music venue, too.  I wish I had that when I bought the Fall Out Boy track, “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race”.  What they need to do now is to extend that to CDs already released.  Then it would make iTMS the best way to get music (that is if you don’t mind the crippling DRM that the industry slabs on).

Has anyone else noticed this in other albums or is it just Modest Mouse?