Can Beatles iTunes beat CDs and free Beatles downloads?
March 10th, 2008 by KarenIt was just announced that Beatles mouthpiece Paul McCartney has inked a $400 million deal to put Beatles music on iTunes.
Odds are the other remaining Beatle, Ringo Starr, will get a cut of the cash as well, but Apple scarcely mentions him in connection with the deal.
But is it worth it?
The pay-per-song format of iTunes is useful when listeners only want one or two songs from an artist rather than a whole album.
However, the Beatles are already one of the top-selling bands of all time. So, odds are a good chunk of the population already owns several Beatles CDs or albums—which means they don’t need to download them, they can just rip their CDs and add them to their music player.
And, even if folks who own Beatles LPs decide they’d like digital versions for their mp3 players and iPods, Beatles downloads have certainly been available online without iTunes, both through legal free Beatles music downloads sites like EZ-Tracks, music streaming sites like Mp3.com and various illegal sites.
So, did iTunes just make a $400 million mistake? Only time will tell.
In the mean time, check out some of the Top Beatles Music Downloads.
Beatles—“Can’t Buy Me Love” free download
Beatles—“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” free download
Beatles—“Strawberry Fields Forever” free download
Is $400 million too much for McCartney?
Will you download Beatles music from iTunes?
Leave a comment and let us know.
