At long last, the Beatles are making their way to Apple’s iTunes. After lawsuits between Apple Corps and Apple on branding, plenty of digital-music wars with record labels, and years of rumors, the Beatles are embracing the platform.
Consumers can log onto iTunes now and purchase a wide variety of The Beatles’ music in various forms, including albums, individual songs and special collections. The iTunes Store now boasts 13 remastered studio albums, the two-volume Past Masters compilation, and the classic Red and Blue collections.
Beatles lovers can also buy and download a special digital Beatles Box Set featuring the Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964 concert film, a worldwide iTunes exclusive that showcases The Beatles’ first U.S. concert. Paul McCartney, Ringo Start, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison’s widow, Olivia, all gave the nod.
Jobs Meets The Beatles
“We’re really excited to bring The Beatles’ music to iTunes,” McCartney said. “It’s fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around.”
Starr added, “I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when The Beatles are coming to iTunes. At last, if you want it, you can get it now, The Beatles from Liverpool to now.” And Ono, John Lennon’s widow, said it’s appropriate that the iTunes launch is coinciding with Lennon’s 70th birthday year.
Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs came out for the party, using colorful lyrics from a classic Beatles song to describe the path to winning The Beatles to iTunes. “We love The Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes,” Jobs said. “It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to The Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes 10 years ago.”
Filling a…