Open up the iTunes store today and you see a teaser about yet another iTunes announcement taking place tomorrow.
"Tomorrow is just another day. That you'll never forget. Check back here tomorrow for an exciting announcement from iTunes."
Yeah, I know. We've all heard this before. And about the Beatles, too. And each time, they've panned out to be nothing.
This time, though, might be different.
Every so often, we get notes and rumors. We received a couple of notes from someone earlier this month. We don't think much of these things usually and didn't recall them until today after hearing about the iTunes announcement. At the very least, it's a funny coincidence.
The note, sent by someone who they say has a friend who works at Apple Computer headquarters in Cupertino, said ads were currently being made up there for the Beatles on iTunes. Our "source" said "They're selling all 13 studio albums in a box set" (which we take to mean as a package or could be an indication the information is totally wrong) and that "They have special gift cards and posters. It looks awesome. Everything is in black and white."
More: Our source said Apple has had mock-ups of store merchandise, posters, banners, models, etc. They had pictures of the Apple homepage as well with the Beatles theme and announcement. The source said that Apple Inc. will put up interviews with Paul and Ringo on their website when the announcement is made.
Our source didn't know of an exact timeline, but said it looked to be "in the next few months."
A check with a source had no idea if tomorrow's announcement was about the Beatles. However, Billboard.biz, in a story by Antony Bruno, says smart money is that it is. He doesn't give all the reasons he says he knows, but cites a couple of reasons why he thinks this is so: the use of four world clocks on the iTunes teaser (a la the four Beatles) and the specific use of the term "Another day," a Paul McCartney song title. Those are about as ridiculous as some of the Paul Is Dead "clues."
The Wall Street Journal is even more positive. Writer Ethan Smith says Apple is "is preparing to announce that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation."
False alarms have happened so many times before it's hard to believe that this one might not just be another one. It could be someone's nicely conceived fantasy (that we've fallen for).
Then again. We still have our doubts, but it'll be interesting to see what happens. Another sour Apple or what? You can take it or leave it.
We'll know for sure in 24 hours.
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Comments
Does this mean a finished "Now and Then" could be released as a single? Would love that!
Interesting thought, but the Beatles brain trust would have to agree to it. And so far, there's been no agreement to do it.
Could "just another day" be a clue to you all? Maybe the announcement is about Paul...
Apple loves to tease. It certainly could be.
I was thinking the same thing. Maybe the anouncement is a joint venture of Apple Computers and Paul for the release on iTunes of all of his reissue series. Don't know why any announcement of The Beatles on iTunes is such a big deal though. The music is compressed and even if it's not, it doesn't matter if it's remastered or not when you play it on an iPod. Beatles fans already have the songs downloaded on their players having bought the CD's so the hype is just that....hype, even if it's true.
I don't actually care :-) The music is out there and I don't need compressed iTunes versions.
What would be really really interesting and innovative would be to release the Christmas Fan Club recordings on the iTunes store. Now *that* would be cool.
they're up and available! you were right!
but i couldn't download the album art for the tunes i already have on my ipod.
apple/itune's usual policy is that if it sells the music, you can download the album cover for songs you copied from your personal CD collection (i bought all-but-4 of the 2009 reissues cds.) i would love to no longer see a black screen when playing their music
Thanks, beth. Funny thing is I don't recall anyone else having anything like the information we posted. And I wonder if we'd posted it a week ago whether anyone would have believed it.
Well, having bought all the reissues, who cares? The "bonus" is the '64 DC Concert if you buy the whole $149 package. I bought the complete DC concert for $4.99 at the Christmas Tree shop a couple of years ago. If there's nothing new, who cares?
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