Apple's Beatles announcement: A letdown?

On Tuesday morning, Apple announced it had struck a deal to begin selling Beatles' MP3s on iTunes, ending a two decades-long legal impasse between the two parties. The company had prepared fans for a major revelation, advertising it as a "day you'll never forget," leading many to speculate that Apple would be introducing a streaming music service or a major software upgrade. Given the fervor leading up to it, is the Beatles announcement a disappointment?

It did not live up to the hype: "Although this is good news," says Peter Chubb at Product Reviews, "it is not exactly going to be a day that I will never forget." The hope was for Apple to "announce something huge, such as iTunes Cloud or even Apps for Apple TV." By trumpeting something as banal as the Beatles agreement, "Apple lost some of its credibility."

"The Beatles on iTunes: Disappointed?"

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This should have happened years ago: "So the Beatles finally turned in their Flat Earth Society membership cards today" and let their music be sold online, says Rob Pegoraro at The Washington Post. "La-dee-freakin'-da." The band could have "looked like visionaries" if they had joined forces with Apple years ago, but at this late date, should we really be excited that "the Beatles have finally run out of excuses for not letting downloaders give them their money?"

"The Beatles on iTunes? Yawn."

It's irrelevant because of the format: "There's no denying that it's a financial coup for both companies," says Andrew Nusca at ZDNet, referring to Apple Computers and Apple Corps, the Beatles publishing group. Still, "the big takeaway here is whether it all matters." It's nice to have the band's catalog available on iTunes, but let's face it, "If you're a Beatles fan, you've found a way to get the Fab Four's music on your iPod already."

"Apple finally brings Beatles to iTunes; does it matter?"