Top stories

Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

Talks ‘Stalled’ Between Apple and Beatles

drinksmachine/flickr)

(photo: drinksmachine/flickr)

For Beatles fans looking to download the iconic British rockers from Apple’s iTunes, it appears its going to be another ‘Hard Days Night.’ Paul McCartney now says negotiations are at a stand-still.

“The last word I got back was it’s stalled at the whole moment, the whole process,” the musician told the Associated Press.

The sticking point, according to McCartney is EMI, which owns the Beatles song catalog, and Apple Corps, a holding company run by surviving members of the UK band.

In May, 2007, McCartney told Billboard Magazine a deal to bring the Beatles to iTunes was “virtually settled.” The same year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said he expected a deal to be signed by mid-2008.

Ironically, while signing the Beatles continues to slip from Jobs – a child of the ’60s – the British rockers may make their first digital appearance for an audience unfamiliar with the music.

The Beatles in October signed to include their music in the Rock Band videogames, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Viacom-owned videogame is a rival to Activision’s Guitar Hero.

About the author

Ed Sutherland

Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.

Email the author | Read more posts by Ed Sutherland.

3 comments

    I’m certain to be mauled by Beatles fans for even suggesting this, but…why is it so important to get the Beatles up on iTunes anyway? Isn’t everything they’ve ever done available in a million different packages, box sets, collections, and formats anyway?

    I’m with username PHOENIX… while it might be nice to have the Fab Four on iTunes, why not just buy a CD and import it? That’s probably what I’ll do when I make The Switch next year

    I agree with the above – it’s not as if the Beatles’ music isn’t just as easily and commonly accessed elsewhere.

    However, I personally think it’s more for completion sake than anything else – I mean, a music store which doesn’t carry the Beatles is kind of like a fruit-and-veg store which doesn’t sell apples – it’s a pretty big omission, whether it’s online or offline.

Buy Inside Steve's Brain Buy from Amazon.com Buy from Barnes & Noble