At last, the world’s favorite rock band enters the 21st century.
- Beatles Finally on iTunes
Today’s the first day you can legally download a Beatles song. After seven years of squabbling, the Beatles finally came to an agreement with Apple, and now the world’s most beloved rock band’s entire catalog of 13 studio albums, the two-volume Past Masters compilation, and the “Red” and “Blue” collections are all available for download on iTunes.
The recordings are offered in a “box set” for $149, albums for $12.99, and individual songs for $1.29. As a delightful bonus, Apple is offering a free gift — a group of fascinating streaming videos for your viewing pleasure, consisting of the first-ever Beatles concert in the U.S. (watch it here), and a collection of videos covering the Beatles’ entire career.
What’s the big deal here? I know most of us hard-core Beatles fans ripped all of our Fab Four CDs a long time ago. But this debut on iTunes is symbolic. One of the last holdouts, the greatest musical act the world has ever known, has at long last relented, offering its collection into digital form. It’s a sign that the stodgy, anachronistic music industry has finally come full circle, realizing that its highly profitable CD business is in its twilight years. At long last, this is a sign that music purveyors have abandoned all those trucks, warehouses and middlemen, and migrated to the new world of digital distribution. It’s about time.
What’s most surprising about this is that Beatles music is been available on the music game Beatles Rock Band for more than a year now, allowing would-be musicians to pretend like they’re the Beatles.
Beatles Finally on iTunes
What took so long for them to agree with Apple to present the Beatles catalog on iTunes? First of all, EMI, the Beatles’ record company, didn’t want to give up those huge profits they’ve enjoyed from Beatles CD sales over the past 25 years.
Second, there’s been bad blood between the EMI and Apple, originating from the fact that the Beatles named their record company Apple Corps long before Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started (what was then called) Apple Computer.
After all the haggling and bickering, the two companies have finally made peace with each other. So now there’s a specific slice of Beatles fans who will directly benefit from this union. For this release to directly affect you, you must be someone who likes the Beatles, but not enough to buy their CDs and rip them into digital form for use on MP3 players. You also have to be someone who’s not willing to otherwise procure MP3s of Beatles songs.
If that’s you, you can now easily and legally enjoy the moptops’ music in all its digital glory. In some ways, it was worth the wait, with Apple presenting the recordings in its beautifully-designed “Album” format. It’s a close approximation to the old way of buying music, with extensive liner notes, images, and many are accompanied by documentaries of the Beatles in action.
If you’re like me, you were sitting in front of a black-and-white TV on that February day in 1964 when the Beatles electrified the nation with their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was a profound experience that changed the world for me, and it seems like it happened just yesterday. It’s hard to believe that was nearly 47 years ago.
- Beatles Finally on iTunes
Just as the Beatles captivated the electronic medium of early network television, they’re destined to do the same with digital downloads. The best part of this re-issue in digital form is that many of our kids and grandkids will now be more likely to become familiar with those Beatles songs that have all become classics.
Author: Charlie White
