Changes

Due to the distribution method chosen for the album, there were no leaks of the entire album prior to release. However, Trent Reznor and Saul Williams leaked a few songs before releasing it. Reznor leaked the songs "[[Break]]" and "[[Tr(n)igger]]" via [[Echoing the Sound]], later, a Sendspace link appeared on [[nin.com]] making the two tracks plus "[[Sunday Bloody Sunday]]" available as a downloadable zip file with lyrics to the songs. A few hours before the release, Saul Williams put "[[Scared Money]]" on his MySpace music player.

The album was released at 1am Eastern Time on November 1st 2007, with the abilty to preorder. People are given the option to either "directly support the artists involved in the creation of this music" by making a $5 donation or to download the album for free. If you choose to pay for the record, you are able to download in 192kbps MP3, 320kbps MP3 or FLAC lossless audio. If you download for free you recieve the album in 192Kbps MP3 format. All versions include a PDF with artwork and lyrics, and "all files are 100% DRM free, and can be played on any device. MP3s are encoded with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAME LAME v3.97] and love". The choice of distribution method garnered much attention and praise from the online community and was reported on by many websites. The number of downloads have were not been immediately released so it is unknown how many people downloaded or paid money for it, though with Reznor said the following [http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071104/music_nm/reznor_dc;_ylt=Ah61sxYfjTC2yg7q1jy.z5xxFb8C stating in an interview]: "We do know the presale numbers, but we are keeping them a secret."Later, a follow-up revealing the statistics was posted on nin.com on January 3rd 2008.