# Clue me in, why is the Beatles on i-tunes a big deal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542 "2010-12-01T15:19:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/1 "2010-12-01T15:19:51Z")
I’m not really understanding why this is such good news for big fans of the Beatles. I mean shouldn’t most Beatles fans already have an extensive collection on CD which they probably already transfered to their i-tunes? I guess I could accept that maybe there are some obscure hard to find tunes they can download to complete their collection but then why is the Abbey Road album the most downloaded Beatles item right now? Shouldn’t you already own Abbey Road? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/2 "2010-12-01T15:22:47Z")
You’d be surprised at the number of people who don’t know how to rip CDs into MP3’s and would rather just download them in another format to make it easier. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/3 "2010-12-01T15:25:33Z")
Because sometimes I want to purchase a song and not a whole album. iTunes allows me to do that. Case in point: The White Album. Some songs I really, really love, others I could stand never to hear again. I lost the CD years and years ago and was damned if I was going to buy it again just for a few songs. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/4 "2010-12-01T15:26:36Z")
It’s not a big deal and has been met with indifference.\* Apple and the media are making it into a big deal because it has taken so long and the Beatles are so famous, but when you get past that hype there’s nothing special about it for Beatles fans (who should have all/most of the songs already) and it’s not like anything on iTunes hasn’t been available on CD for years. I’d say it is more of a big deal for casual fans who wouldn’t care enough to go out and buy a Beatles CD but might get ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Hey Jude’ off iTunes on a whim. - And this indifference shows in the sales - I remember industry predictions that when the Beatles made it to iTunes they would then take up the entirety of the top ten singles on the British chart, but all that really happened was mild jumps for the albums and ‘Let It Be’ in at the lower end of the top forty singles. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/5 "2010-12-01T15:29:59Z")
There is a truly great throwaway line in _Men In Black_. When Tommy Lee Jones is showing Will Smith around the facility and a new, tiny storage disc that will replace CDs soon. Jones mutters, “guess I’ll have to buy the White Album again…” This shouldn’t be such big news, especially when you consider that you can buy CDs for less than the cost of the the digital version. The real reason is because it’s taken so long, due to the well-publicized feud between Apple Corp. and Apple Computer regarding the latter’s previous promise not to go into the music business. ---
**Author:** ![monkeylucifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@monkeylucifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monkeylucifer)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/6 "2010-12-01T15:41:06Z")
When Apple first formed the Beatles had started a company called Apple Corp. to handle all their record deals years before. So Apple Computers agreed to sign a contract with the Beatles’ company that said they could use the name Apple Computers as long as they never got into the music biz, which didn’t seem likely to happen back then. Flash forward to iTunes and the people running Apple Corp. (The Beatles company) thought “ZOMG, you fucked us and lied” so out came the lawyers. It is been in a legal dispute since then until ultimately CD sales died and Apple Corp. realized they had to work out a deal. I think they got decreased rates that they had to pay Apple Computers for the rights to seel through iTunes. Long story short: It has been one huge legal battle ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/7 "2010-12-01T16:18:16Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The real reason is because it’s taken so long, due to the well-publicized feud between Apple Corp. and Apple Computer regarding the latter’s previous promise not to go into the music business. That’s not the real reason, otherwise they’d have been available on Amazon years ago. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/8 "2010-12-01T16:24:47Z")
I remember hearing it was because they were worried about piracy - which is so collossally stupid I’m not sure if I can bring myself to believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/9 "2010-12-01T16:33:36Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > I remember hearing it was because they were worried about piracy - which is so collossally stupid I’m not sure if I can bring myself to believe it. Yup, that’s the reason. That was why they only allowed their music to be sold in digital format via that stupid [apple thumbdrive](http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-USB/dp/B002VH7P4O), thinking that otherwise, selling via places like iTunes or Amazon would mean one person buys their songs and then sends them to every person on the planet for free. Story: > **[Beatles piracy fixation gets stranger with huge FLAC release](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/11/beatles-piracy-fixation-gets-stranger-with-huge-flac-release/)** > > The Beatles have demanded that they be compensated for any online file-sharing … ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clue-me-in-why-is-the-beatles-on-i-tunes-a-big-deal/562542/10 "2010-12-01T16:47:30Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Yup, that’s the reason. That was why they only allowed their music to be sold in digital format via that stupid [apple thumbdrive](http://www.amazon.com/Beatles-USB/dp/B002VH7P4O), thinking that otherwise, selling via places like iTunes or Amazon would mean one person buys their songs and then sends them to every person on the planet for free. Story: > > [Beatles piracy fixation gets stranger with huge FLAC release - Ars Technica](http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/11/beatles-piracy-fixation-gets-stranger-with-huge-flac-release.ars) :smack: That USB apple is legendary - what a complete and utter piece of shit. I keep imagining someone taking it home, taking it out of the little box, setting it on the table and then slowly but surely collapsing on the floor in tears as the realise what they’ve spent their money on. It makes the digital box set look like good value.