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UPDATE: The Beatles confirm online music plans

By Jonny Evans

The Beatles may be preparing to release their music through digital music services, reports claim.

Speaking during the Apple Corps versus Apple Computer trial in the UK High Court last week, Apple Corps label boss Neil Aspinall confirmed the plans. A spokeswoman for Apple Corps told Macworld UK that Aspinall made these statements during the case.

Aspinall said that Apple Corps is remastering the Beatles catalogue to make it sound better and that it is assembling digital booklets to accompany the downloads.

"I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters. It would be better to wait and try to do them both simultaneously so that you then get the publicity of the new masters and the downloading, rather than just doing it ad hoc," he said.

The surviving Beatles have held back from releasing their tracks through online services so far, and to finally unleash them could be a pivotal moment for legitimate services.

The current court case shows they are aware that such services exist. Paul McCartney even gave video iPods away to everyone who accompanied him on his US tour last year.

Apple Corps has since confirmed that Aspinall's statements as reported are correct. While the label declined to commit to any time schedule for the plans, it did reveal them to be just one of several initiatives the label has in hand.

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So I wonder if this means that remastered CD's are on their way, too?

Matt

God, I hope so.

"What we're gonna do is re-master the entire catalogue, and then release them as online-only, 128kbps MP3s."

whaaat

Given the sound of recent Beatles remasters like 1 (maximized to death) and Let It Be...Naked (drenched in no-noise) I'll likely be sticking with my Beatles vinyl for the forseeable future, even if they do put the remasters out on CD, or offer these as lossless downloads.

DamingR

You didn't know that louder == better?

Boy, you must not listen to much music!

Tommy Ceez

Hi rez or fuck off

Gunshy

Yay, more lossy low-qual dl's The Beatles, and their fans, deserve a lot better. wtf?

-Gunshy-

Mikael79

If they're also going to release remastered versions on CD, why would this be a tragedy to fans of the Beatles? Any fan would either be happy with their already-owned albums (be it CD or vinyl) or they'd purchase the new CDs.

I think the online downloads are more for the people who only want a few songs.

Tommy Ceez

If the Beatles released a SACD or DVD-Audio...all the remaining hardware stock would sell out in 1 day...they are probable waiting to force is into HD-DVD or Blu-Ray hi rez formats