Beatles, iTunes...What's the Big Deal?

The Beatles' music is finally available on iTunes...so what? It's not like they are U2, signing on at the cutting edge and using a new single to promote a new technology. And it's not like the Beatles' music has been unavailable, making iTunes a savior for long-lost treasures.

It's just that the Beatles and Apple finally settled their score so the Beatles' music is available for $1.29 per song or $12.99 per entire album (with double albums at $19.99). Again, what's the big deal? For a few bucks more (and keep an eye out for online sales aiming to compete with iTunes) you can own the remastered CD.

And the fact is that most fans, casual or not, already own LPs and/or some generation of CD whether it be original 1987 CD issues, the recent stereo or mono remasters, or even the way cool little green apple with music and videos stored at an ultra-high-performance level USB stick. So why would anyone buy these digital downloads from iTunes? You can copy from CD to computer and iPod and any sound you get that way is going to be no worse (and probably better) than the sound quality of anything you can download from iTunes. Plus, iTunes is focused on downloading single songs where the Beatles, especially from 1965's Rubber Soul on, were all about albums - longer pieces of music made up of single songs that belong together. Sgt. Pepper might be considered the first concept album, and though the concept itself might be elusive the songs do hold together: "A Day in the Life" is a great piece of songwriting that stands on its own, but it's the perfect ending and stands even stronger as the coda to that record.

So if you already own the Beatles' music there's little reason for you to buy from iTunes; if for some reason you don't own it, head to your local music store (do those exist anymore?) or go to Amazon or Music Direct and pay for the CDs. You get the packaging, liner notes, something to hold in your hand, better sound, the individual songs in order -- the complete package as the Beatles intended. Plus, you'll always have them to upload to whatever new piece of technology comes along when the iPod has run its course.