“Apple has exclusive digital rights for the Beatles ‘into 2011,’ says spokesman Dylan Jones, and he notes that the exclusivity doesn’t expire on the first of January,” Peter Kafka reports for AllThingsD. “But he confirms that the exclusivity does indeed have an expiration date.”
Kafka wonders, “So when that date comes, we should expect to see the Beatles everywhere else you can get music online, right? Namely Amazon, and the subscription services that rent music by the month, like Spotify, Rhapsody and Microsoft’s Zune? Or Google, if and when it launches its music service?”
“‘That’s a question, isn’t it,’ Jones says, and doesn’t offer more,” Kafka reports.
Full article, with Kafka’s theories about what could happen when the date hits, here.
The Beatles can be found on Apple’s iTunes Store here.
As I write, Mac OSX is installing on my new OWC SSD that arrived this morning for my Mac Pro- as the boot drive installed in the 2nd optical bay. it out to be a hoot.
As for the Beatles, they have been in my library for years in lossless format.
I know you younguns think this is boring news, but this is awesome.
Now I will bring my Volkswagan Beetle car out of mothball and spin it with the “A Hard Day’s Night” in full blast.
This news made me look at the Beatles I ripped into my iTunes. I noticed they were all at 128 vs. 256. Re-ripping now and bought a few tunes I had not had on my iPod previously.
Not that young and yep, this one is a yawner.
Seriously. Who cares? I’ve never been this disappointed in an Apple announcement. Beatles fans (like my former self) already own the Beatles albums. (A day you will never forget…)
Yawn! As far as big announcements go this one is pretty lame….Great big build up by Apple for nothing…meh…
Gawd, shoot me now. This bloody story ought to outlive me.
They’ll sell a lot of these – being first was everything here – imagine if Microsoft had exclusive rights ….
A commemorative iPod Touch, pre-loaded would have made it a bit more memorable.
@ kenzo,
To be fair, it wasn’t an Apple announcement, it was an iTunes announcement.
It wasn’t really much of an announcement… It was only on the home page and nowhere else… We make it more than it is.
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As for the battle to get the catalog for years and years, I guess it is a big deal.
-Pi
There is one think everyone is missing and din’t get yet. With Beatles on iTunes means Apple is now the owner of Apple logo – and this is somerhing Big, just check yourself The very first video on iTunes dedicated webpage until the end of it and you’ll understand what i’m talking about
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http://www.apple.com/fr/the-beatles/
@vsp
Hopefully the 8-track player still works 😀
I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS DAY!1!11!!!!
I am just north of the holy grail demographic of 18-35, I grew up listening to the Beatles, love them and all the rest of it. But I already have there music in my library, so I’m pretty underwhelmed. Would have been more meaningful when the iTunes store first opened, or even just five years ago. The owners just waited too long. Sure, they have been and most likely be top sellers, but this does not excite me any more than if they added any artist I enjoy, which wouldn’t be all that much anyway.
p.s sorry for type mistakes, my french iPhone doesn’t correct spelling quite right
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@DocMac
In what way is this news “awesome?” Please explain.
@Manbearpig
Let’s say you sell candy bars for a living. Let’s say the third largest selling candy bar would not let you sell their candy. But now they say ok. See? Big news! It’s not about YOU. It’s about the third largest selling band in 2009.
@RicMac
On the contrary, it IS about me. Announcement was “That YOU will never forget.”
One year after “a day you will never forget”…
Q:
Where were you the day Apple got exclusive digital rights for the Beatles?
A:
I have no idea. Who cares.
Spose this is why the stock fell 5 dollars after the announcement?
Mike Davidson in his tweet explains why this might be a deal:
“I feel like the Beatles coming to iTunes is a much bigger deal to Steve Jobs than it is to anyone else.” (via Daring Fireball).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703326204575617004052395816.html?mod=e2tw
Well there you have it.
Pearl Harbor, JFK assassination, 9/11, and now the Beatles available on iTunes.
We will never forget!
Even my local radio station has this as big news. At least Apple knows how to get big publicity.