The frustrating wait for legal download access to Beatles music came to an instant halt Tuesday (11/16) with the Apple Computers announcement that the entire catalog of recorded works from the band was being made available immediately through iTunes.  The long and winding road to digital availability was rocky from the start. The Beatles Apple Corp. filed notice against the computer company several years ago over the use of the word Apple when the Steve Jobs headed company moved into the digital delivery of music.  Jobs, a self-professed Beatles junkie, set out to mend things by providing the means for distributing the band's music through iTunes.  Seven years of long and contentious negotiations came to a harmonious end with a 10 a.m. announcement that the enrite catalog would be available through iTunes.  Given that the most avid fans already owned the vinyl and / or CDs they could rip from, it will be interesting to see how many will fork over the dollars to buy the official downloads.  The group sold more than 177 million albums in the US alone.

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