Gary Marshall: That was the announcement we waited for?

Do you remember where you were when Apple made its world changing, unforgettable Beatles announcement? I was right here, on this chair, in front of this computer, making this face: meh.

I suspect you were doing something similar.

To most of us, the arrival of The Beatles on iTunes is as exciting as the news that Andrex has switched its bog roll colour from white to Winter White.

It's something that simply doesn't matter. *That* was the announcement US Apple fans got up early for? No streaming iTunes, TV rentals or mind-brain interface? Old guys' music is now available in a shop?

Part of it is The Beatles themselves. I'd agree that they were the most important band of all time, but the kids don't care: it's old people's music, as much a part of young people's lives as whittling, spats or the Black Death. Even Britpop, which briefly made The Fab Four cool again, was a very, very long time ago.

Already owned

The trouble with old people's music is that old people already have it. If you're a fan you'll already have the albums on vinyl, or CD, or reissued CD, or remastered CD, or reissued remastered reissued best of compilation box set volume three.

There hasn't exactly been a shortage of Beatles products over the last few decades - and almost all of it is available more cheaply on CD than it is on iTunes today.

And then, of course, there are the torrents. If I had a penny for every person currently seeding the Beatles' entire discography or one of their best-ofs, I could afford to graft a badger to my head just like Paul McCartney appears to have done.

I find it hard to believe that anyone has spent the last decade desperately waiting for the Beatles to hit iTunes, and I shudder to think how much money has been lost to the torrents and P2P nets while Apple (Corp) and Apple (computer) have bickered.

Despite all of that, I can't stop thinking that Apple's iTunes announcement was still pretty brilliant.

The hyperbolic teaser demonstrated genuine excitement, and its placement on Apple.com shows that to at least one person, The Beatles on iTunes is a really big deal. That person, of course, is Steve Jobs.

In a business where shareholder returns matter more than songs, it's nice to know that the CEO of the world's biggest music retailer actually cares about - and still gets excited about - music.


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I'm not fussed either way, but the prices are ridiculous:

http://www.techradar.com/news/computing ... ack-908511

You're not fussed, and neither it seems is most of the planet.

Only the remaining Beatles and those at Cupertino seem to be at all bothered.

Big yawn, nothing to see here, now move along please.

A simple press release would have sufficed. A teaser page on the website just drives everyone into a frenzy, especially when it claims to be something "you'll never forget".

I was always more of a Black Sabbath person anyway - that airy-fairy submarine crap never really appealed to me.

Overrated IMO. The only one with any talent got shot dead.

I doubt anybody would be saying that if he hadn't been shot, he'd be as big a bellend as mcartney is now. He was definitely going that way by the end.

+1

It's stunning how being murdered turns someone into a genius/saint.

*not a beatles fan*

+1

He was the talent of an overrated band, I never said he was a genius nor a saint.

I don't get this "hating the Beatles" stuff.

Sure, they're a bit overrated, but some of their early stuff is fantastic. And you can't say they didn't influence a lot of the pop/rock music that came afterwards.

I like the Beatles. I like the albums prior to their hippy-dippy days, but to me all their stuff has some merit.

I don't hate them, Heather.
I just think their music is sh!te. Clearly, that isn't the popular view and they have a huge fan base. I've listened to a good chunk of their stuff, mainly to humour a mate who is a huge fan, and could find nothing about it I liked.

Oasis, on the other hand, I do hate.

My notion of The Beatles is.. I can recognise the craft, the talent in their work, it just doesn't move me at all in general. Anyone who knows anything about pop music can see just how their music is almost perfectly formed within the genre. However quite a lot of it, that's all it is - extremely well crafted. It's like looking at a very well made piece of furniture. You can see how all the pieces fit together just so, and how well it's designed and how polished it is, but it doesn't move you to tears or make you change your mind about any major issue in your life.

The Beatles are great pop but I've never been convinced they are great art.

They're the epitome of pop music. Namely, they're very popular.

There's a few tracks I really like, but then they did churn out a lot more which I find slightly forgettable.

Is Sgt. Pepper a better album than Never Mind the B*llocks? It's a matter of personal taste.

I'm not a big fan of the Beatles, but I have to say that when the rock n roll poll draws to its laboured conclusion, what we will have is a definitive list of the ten songs that are nothing like as good as Come Together.

The Beatles were a great act and Macca was just as talented as Lennon, but Johns death meant that he is now revered as a saint, yet as others have said he would have been an [LIFTED] by now.

As for this news it is a bit late. The Beatles are pretty much irrelevant now.

Meh.
I entirely understand and appreciate the impact and influence they've had on music.
I still don't like their tunes. Just a personal thing.
I hope any Beatles fans are overjoyed at er... being able to buy their music on iTunes.
Because I'm certain that at this point, none of them have thought of ripping their CDs to MP3 and sticking them on their iPods.
Why else would there be this announcement?