Beatles Remasters Being Released on USB

11/04/09 3:10pm

by Siobhan Ozege (CHARTattack)

Despite having their own Rock Band game, and having just re-released their catalogue on remastered CDs, you still can't legally purchase Beatles song on iTunes or other digital outlets. Weird, right?

Well, in an attempt to correct a market where Beatles music isn't sold digitally, there's a new collaboration with EMI Music to release a limited-edition USB drive featuring the entire Beatles In Stereo remastered set as 320 Kbps mp3s on Dec. 8.

Only 30,000 of these 16-gigabyte USBs will be produced, shaped like green apples bearing The Beatles' logo. Each will feature all 14 remastered albums and 13 "mini documentaries" that accompanied them when they came out in September. Purchasing info is available on the Beatles website.

This collaboration has become even more significant in the last week, as EMI launched a copyright infringement lawsuit against BlueBeat.com on Tuesday.

BlueBeat is a company offering up the Beatles catalogue as a digital download without permission. How is this all connected?

EMI controls the digital rights of the Beatles music through an agreement with Apple Records, which EMI says BlueBeat is violating. Seeming totally unafraid of the ramifications, BlueBeat are still selling the catalogue despite the lawsuit, and, to add insult to injury, are selling tracks for way below market price. At only 20 cents a song, you can get the entire Beatles In Mono box set for $53.25.

Oh, it is so on, BlueBeat. So. On.