iTunes prices likely to dissuade Beatles fans

by Steven Mostyn - Nov 17 2010, 11:58

It’s been, dare we say it, a long and winding road, but Apple and EMI Group have finally hammered out their differences and music by The Beatles is now available to purchase and download from the iTunes Store.

“We’re now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes 10 years ago,” enthused Apple chief executive Steve Jobs in a statement.

Although iTunes is not offering every piece of official Fab Four content (i.e., the Anthology releases are not listed), the band’s 13 studio albums are all present and accounted for, along with a massive all-encompassing box set and the Past Masters collections.

However, while the digital generation could well be thrilled by the prospect of downloading some of the best music ever created, it’s perhaps worth pointing out that Apple certainly isn’t looking to drum up trade with attractive pricing.

More pointedly, each of the studio albums posted to iTunes (i.e., Revolver, Abbey Road, Yellow Submarine et al) is priced at $12.99 USD (or $1.29 USD per song), which is a significant leap from the $7.99 USD Amazon is presently charging for physical CD versions of the same.

This leads us to wonder why, despite all the fanfare, anyone would wish to buy a Beatles album from iTunes when they can simply grab the CD, rip it directly into their digital music player, and always have the disc as a restriction-free backup.

Jobs and Co. may have been wrestling with EMI for a decade in order to secure The Beatles but, now the music is available, it seems like something of a letdown.

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