The Beatles in iTunes

Why is it that The Beatles music hasn't been available to download at the iTunes Store until now? 

It goes back to a long string of lawsuits between Apple Corps. (the company The Beatles formed in 1968) and Apple Computer (formed in 1976, now they are just Apple.)

I won't bore you with the details of these lawsuits, suffice to say this trademark battle has been the reason you haven't been able to download the Fab Four up until now.

In 2007 a settlement was finally reached by the two companies and since then it's only been a matter of time.

As of November 16th of 2010 (that's today!) The Beatles are available to download at the iTunes Music Store.

The versions of The Beatles recordings that are available for download at iTunes are the remastered stereo versions first released on September 9th of 2009 ("The Beatles in Stereo" Box Set.)

No Mono Mixes

The original mono mixes ("The Beatles in Mono" Box Set) are not available on iTunes. They can only be purchased as a part of the mono box set.

Why? I think this is because they believe the stereo mixes will appeal to a wider audience and they don't want to confuse listeners who may purchase the mono versions by mistake. The Beatles people now consider the stereo versions to be the "official" versions at this point (even though that through about 1967, the stereo mixes were really just an afterthought.) 

The mono mixes are seen as something for true Beatles freaks rather than for average fans. 

That said, perhaps they will add the mono mixes to iTunes sometime in the future.