New U2 album Songs of Innocence available now for free on iTunes

At the end of Apple’s We Wish We Could Say More event, U2 hit the stage to play their new song “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)” for the crowd. At the end of the performance, though, it was announced that U2 had a new album called Songs of Innocence. After a bit of banter that saw Bono telling Tim Cook that he thought it would be cool if Apple distributed the album to all iTunes subscribers, Tim Cook said it was a deal. The end result? Anyone with an Apple iTunes account gets a copy of Songs of Innocence completely free. Even better, you don’t even have to redeem the offer. If you have an iTunes account, you’ll find that the album has already been placed in your account under Purchases.

The offer is available in 119 countries for iTunes and Beats Music users until October 13th, when the album will be sold for a fee, and show up in other stores as well.