Last week saw another flareup of "The Beatles' catalog is going to be on iTunes!" rumors with absolutely no confirmation that the assertion was true. In fact, Apple (the iTunes' Apple, not the Beatles' Apple Corps) denied the whole thing.
That's not to say that it won't happen. Someday. But, until it does, why should we (or, more specifically, I) care?
After all, there's nothing at all to prevent you from loading up Beatles tunes on your music player right now. I have the whole works on mine. If you already have all the Beatles' albums on CD, this is easy to do, of course. But if you don't have any Beatles CDs (and why the hell don't you?), surely somebody you know does. Or you could buy used copies cheap--for less than it would cost you do download them at a $1 a pop if and when they become available online--and then load them up.
So, I don't really understand the hubbub. Unless you're talking about remasters.
The gist of the iTunes rumors is that the Fabs' albums are being remastered before being placed online. And that IS exciting news, because they need remastering desperately. Digital technology has come a long way in the past 20 years and the sound of the Beatles CDs, and their mixes, could be vastly improved. If they're done right, I'm excited about hearing them. On CD. I won't download them because CDs just sound better than downloads. Plus, I like cover art and liner notes and all that.
Before he stepped down as head of Apple Corps, longtime Beatles' aide Neil Aspinall said the albums are/were being remastered, so I'm sure it's happening. And I'm pretty sure that the albums will be made available on iTunes. And I'll be excited (not about buying all those CDs, but about hearing them) when it all happens.
But, until it does happen, or at least until Apple (either one) comes out and says for a fact that it's happening and when, why continue getting all worked up about it?
No comments:
Post a Comment