Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories now streaming on iTunes, even as leaked copy hits Web

Daft Punk’s highly anticipated new release Random Access Memory is now streaming live on iTunes. I’ve only been listening for a few minutes and it’s already fantastic. Apple has been live streaming albums from a variety of artist for a couple of years now on big releases.

The streaming offering, which is accessible only from the artist page, not the album page, comes just as a leaked copy of the album (not linking!) hit the Web in the early hours of the morning. The stream is available via iTunes on a computer or iPad and is being offered to everyone, even those who haven’t pre-ordered.

You can fast-forward and rewind the stream, but it’s presented as a full 1 hour 14 minute track, rather than separate items.

Thanks to Federico Viticci for noticing the stream. Note: if you don’t see the ‘listen for free’ option, click on the artists name at the top to get to the artist overview page.

Obviously, offering a stream of the album on a day when it leaks is one way to perhaps counter illegal downloads and drive traffic to pre-orders instead.

Daft Punk on iTunes