“Dragon Tattoo” Soundtrack Yours for $11.99 — or $300

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a perfect storm of anticipation. The biggest bestseller of the decade, one of the five best directors in Hollywood, a script by an Oscar-winning scribe, starring the hottest young actress this side of Jessica Chastain and 007. Oh, and then there's the soundtrack, which costs as much as taking a family of four to a Cubs game.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who won the Best Score Oscar for David Fincher's "The Social Network, have scored his latest film, and you can buy the record for as little as 12 bucks, or as much as $300—yes, $300.

As audacious as the album's price is its length, which is 30 minutes longer than the film's rumored runtime of 152 minutes. Does the world need a three-hour soundtrack? What kind of day would you have to inspire you to spin that whole thing?  If it's anything like Reznor's past work, listening to this would have to be considered a cry for help.

If you want a free taste of the music, you can go to Reznor's website, and download six tracks gratis. And if you're dying to get a peek at the film, you can pre-order, via iTunes, the whole album ahead of its Dec. 9 release, and to tide you over, they'll give a free download of Reznor's cover of "The Immigrant Song," with vocals by Karen O, and an 8-minute super trailer—which we have to admit has our fingers twitching a bit.

But if you're depressed enough to want to hear the album in all its glory, you may be in a deep enough funk to forgo the $11.99 digital download, and head straight for the $300 deluxe edition, which justifies its bananas price tag with vinyl autographs, limited edition artwork, razor-blade USB drives and other goodies. But there's a catch—if you order today, the thing doesn’t even ship until Feb. 6, some six weeks after the film hits theaters.

While this whole thing sets our head to shaking, we have to admit that we've dropped greater sums on equally frivolous things. And for the average Trent Reznor fan—who is now over 35--$300 probably isn’t a budget buster.
 

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