So here's how much music is apparently worth in 2014: After hearing scores of complaints regarding U2's decision to partner with iTunes to deliver the band's new 'Songs of Innocence' album as a free download to all of the store's customers, Bono has been moved to apologize to everyone who felt intruded upon or burdened by the inconvenience of deleting a batch of files.

The apparently chastened frontman offered his mea culpa during a Facebook Q&A session, during which one perturbed attendee wrote in, "Can you please never release an album on iTunes that automatically downloads to peoples playlists ever again? It's really rude."

"Oops. I'm sorry about that," responded Bono. "I had this beautiful idea and we got carried away with ourselves. Artists are prone to that kind of thing. Drop of megalomania, touch of generosity, dash of self-promotion, and deep fear that these songs that we poured our life into over the last few years mightn't be heard. There's a lot of noise out there. I guess we got a little noisy ourselves to get through it."

The band's next album, 'Songs of Experience,' will presumably not be free, thus allowing consumers to leak and steal it just like every other record that comes out these days.

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