"Seriously, he seems to be unconvinced that the web has any real contribution to make to our career, and I am not going to spend any more time or money mortgaging my half of the stage--though I may webcast some Who shows and not show Roger at all. Only kidding. For now we have a famous Who stalemate."

Townshend also said he plans to take down the site he has maintained at TheWho.com.

"I am hoping I can persuade Roger to put in some money to help run it," he wrote.

"I don't want Roger to appear to be a completely against webcasting," Townshend added in a July 25 follow-up entry. "He has mixed feelings about it, and as a result would be happiest for a major sponsor to take it over. ... Roger offered to contribute to a website once it was up and running, but he reserved the right not to do so some times. What he will definitely not do is pay for it. I have been willing thus far to pay for a Who website, and webcasting, for a variety of reasons."

Last month, Townshend announced on behalf of The Who that the group would offer paid webcasts of each show on its current world tour, with profits to benefit various charities supported by Townshend's Double O Charity.

"Webcasting The Who, whether Live or Pay For View, and donating profits ([not] proceeds) to various causes, was entirely my idea," Townshend explained in his July 25 message. "I was unable to share my plan properly with Roger prior to the tour because we were having such trouble meeting our recording deadlines. My feeling, still, is that webcasting allows us new ways to get our new music across that our traditional live show does not. I have yet to convince Roger of this. Sadly, I announced my grand plans, and put them in action, before Roger really had a chance to digest what I was doing.

"I will continue to discuss with Roger what we might be able to do on The Who stage to take advantage of the immense webcast experience I have," he continued. "However, I do not want to bully anyone. Roger is my partner in The Who. He is not my partner in anything else. We love each other but we are not regular social buddies like Bono and Edge, we do not discuss or share ideas, and we have no unified joint vision or strategy for The Who or for creative projects in general. For those of you who think The Who should just get their head down, make a record, and play live, well, here we are!"

Townshend said he "may be able to post some segments of the shows" online as part of a regular pre-show webcast dubbed "In the Attic." The program, which is hosted by Rachel Fuller, normally airs from Townshend's recording studio, but the guitarist is bringing Fuller on the road so that he and she can continue to broadcast throughout the tour. More information is available at the show's website.

As previously reported, The Who will launch a North American tour in mid-September. The outing will support a new album tentatively titled "Who 2," which is due out Oct. 23, and is The Who's first new studio collection since 1982's "It's Hard."