Beatles (finally) coming to iTunes?

After years of speculation about when The Beatles music catalog would finally be offered on iTunes, that day may soon arrive.

London's Telegraph reported on Saturday that former Beatle Paul McCartney has agreed to release the band's music catalog to Apple for as much as $600 million.

Is this finally the end of the on-again, off-again courtship between Apple and Apple Corps. The latter is the media corporation that oversees The Beatles' music and other copyright materials.

Rumors that The Beatles' music would be available for download on iTunes have circulated for years, but this time they carry some weight. Besides the Telegraph the British publication the Daily Mail also reported a similar story.

No release date has been set, according to the papers.

If the Fab Four really are heading to legal downloads, look for them to do well. While long-time fans of the group, which broke up 38 years ago, have likely already bought the band's albums, or CDs or downloaded the songs off a peer-to-peer site, iTunes could help introduce The Beatles to a whole new generation of listeners.

How the money would be split among the surviving band members, Ringo Starr, McCartney and the estates of the late George Harrison and John Lennon, hasn't been disclosed, according to the British papers.

[paul.saulnier]

Honestly, does anyone still care?

Is this one band really worth over half a billion dollars? How long will it take Apple to make that money back?

[Maclover1]

Not 600 million worth of care

But it just makes iTunes/iPod even more dominant.

I my self looooooooooooooooooooooooooong ago aquired MP3's of any of that music I might want.

I see it as yet one more reason to never leave the iTunes/iPod enviroment.

[Ron Bischof]

RE: HONESTLY, DOES ANYONE STILL CARE?

From a business perspective, an obvious yes. Why wouldn't an
emerging media company want exclusive digital rights to the
best selling rock band of all time? At for a paltry sum for a
company with no long term debt and billions in cash to boot.

Your own lack of enthusiasm for the product is unlikely to be
universal.

[rajeshmail201]

Yes many do.

Yes- there are millions of beatle fans around the world. I think they care.

[jmroper2002]

That's ok, but ...

How about AC/DC ???

[video Pal]

BEATLES (FINALLY) COMING TO ITUNES?

Can you say APPLE RECORDS?

EMI does not have the rights to the "Apple Records name. I am
sure that for that some of cash, Apple "inc" wants the name too.

With Apple moving the Apps out of iTunes Music Store to the
new Apps store, Apple records sounds better.

VG

[paul.saulnier]

Really?

Do they really care? Or do they already own CDs which they have ripped into iTunes long ago? Or if not that, perhaps they have downloaded them.

The music industry never fails to amaze me at giving people what they want years after peak demand.

[jltnol]

Yawn

Not that I don't believe it this time, but we've been here many times
before. I don't think The Beatles are as relevant as they once were,
yet I understand the reasoning behind wanting them in your
catalog.

[kennethpdavis]

Any more word on this? It's been silent for many months.

[unbreakable2008]

This is the REAL story behind the beatles catalog... and the man behind it is no other than Michael Jackson :-)

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,258016,00.html