The Beatles' back catalogue has appeared on Apple's iTunes for the very first time.The band are one of the last remaining major artists to go on sale at the popular music store.
Their arrival follows years of legal battles between The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps Ltd, and the computing giant.
The case between the two companies was settled in 2007.
After that, as Paul McCartney explained to the BBC's Newsbeat back in January, it was only a matter of time.
"We'd like to do it," he said, "I know people would like the facility, I know iTunes would like to do it, so one day it's going to happen."
Single albums are now available for £10.99 each, double albums for £17.99 each and despite predictions individual songs wouldn't be available, you can download them for £0.99 each.
The price for the albums is still more expensive than CD versions of the records at some other major online retailers, including Amazon.
"I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes."
Ringo Starr
Or as the band worriedaboutsatan pointed out on Twitter: "Has apple not realised that you can pretty much get the entire beatles back catalogue for about £3.50 from any charity shop in the land?"
Beatles to dominate the chart?
Bookmakers are predicting an influx of Beatles tunes into the Official UK Charts; William Hill are offering 10/1 odds that there will be a Top 10 made up completely of Beatles songs by the end of 2011, and 6/1 that Hey Jude is The Beatles next number one.
But Martin Talbot from the Official Charts Company isn't so convinced.
"It's incredibly difficult to say, " he told 6 Music. "At the moment the singles market is very strong so I think for any individual track to have a big impact on the top 10 it would have to do very well indeed, and the reality is that a lot of the impact will be across the entire Beatles catalogue."
The delay in getting bringing the fab four into the digital age was acknowledged in a statement from Apple's CEO Steve Jobs.
"It has been a long and winding road to get here," he said. "Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realising a dream we've had since we launched iTunes ten years ago."
Ringo Starr also seems relieved a decision has finally been made, saying: "I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes."
Boost for troubled EMI
The timing comes after a particularly hard few weeks for The Beatles' record label EMI, Ben Rumley of Enders Analysis says the extra iTunes revenue will be a welcome relief for them.
"They'll make some money selling The Beatles once again, they're very good at exploiting them," he told BBC 6 Music.
"It will give them a bit of a digital boost. The Beatles were about 10% of their sales in the US last year, excluding digital, so having The Beatles available online can clearly be a good thing for them."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/news/20101116_apple.shtml 
