New Beatles ringtones are exclusive to Apple's iTunes Store

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014


A total of 27 different songs from the legendary foursome The Beatles are now available for purchase as ringtones on Apple's iTunes Store.



The group announced the immediate availability of the ringtones on its website on Wednesday. All 27 ringtones are 30 second snippets from songs that were No. 1 hits in the U.S. and U.K., and each is priced at $1.29.



The selection of songs includes "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Can't Buy Me Love," "A Hard Day's Night," "Eight Days a Week," "Ticket to Ride," "Help!," "Yesterday," "Paperback Writer," "All You Need is Love," "Hello Goodbye," "Let It Be," "Something," "Come Together," "Hey Jude" and more. All of the songs are from the "1" collection, a greatest hits album with all of the band's chart-topping tracks.



The tracks can be purchased through the iTunes desktop application, or via the dedicated iTunes Store application found on iOS devices.



The songs are available exclusively on the iTunes Store, which means only iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users will be able to purchase the tracks and use them as custom alerts on their iOS device.











The new ringtones are yet another exclusive arrangement between Apple and The Beatles. The band's catalog made its digital debut only on iTunes in November of 2010, marking the end of a lengthy trademark dispute between The Beatles and Apple.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A total of 27 different songs from the legendary foursome The Beatles are now available for purchase as ringtones on Apple's iTunes Store.








    I wish that Yoko had never made a deal with the devil. I hate hearing bastardized versions of Beatles songs.



    I'm not sure why, but when I hear Beatles songs re-purposed for TV ads, I hate it. When I hear the same sort of thing by The Who, I don't mind.



    Maybe it is because I know that the Beatles themselves were opposed to that sort of use of their songs.
  • Reply 2 of 33
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    If the whole song is $1.29 on iTunes, why is a 30 second ringtone also $1.29?
  • Reply 3 of 33
    When I hear a strain of Yesterday in the back ground, I become happy, and it puts a smile on my face. I was opposed to the commercial application at first. Now, it just makes the day a little better.
  • Reply 4 of 33
    Where are they ?

    iTunes page gives the albums, but no ringtones link.
  • Reply 5 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by deepriver View Post


    When I hear a strain of Yesterday in the back ground, I become happy, and it puts a smile on my face. I was opposed to the commercial application at first. Now, it just makes the day a little better.



    I wish that I felt like you do. The more things one can enjoy, the better.
  • Reply 6 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    If the whole song is $1.29 on iTunes, why is a 30 second ringtone also $1.29?



    Exactly. Just buy the song and create the ringtone in garage band
  • Reply 7 of 33
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    I wish that Yoko had never made a deal with the devil. I hate hearing bastardized versions of Beatles songs.



    I'm not sure why, but when I hear Beatles songs re-purposed for TV ads, I hate it. When I hear the same sort of thing by The Who, I don't mind.



    Maybe it is because I know that the Beatles themselves were opposed to that sort of use of their songs.



    You know that the use of Beatles songs is controlled/owned by Sony and the Michael Jackson estate, right? Not the actual Beatle performances, but companies can use the songs and hire Beatle sound-alikes to perform them for commercials. McCartney was all set years ago to buy the song publishing rights (which the Beatles never owned), but he happened to tell Michael Jackson he was going to do it, and Jackson stepped in and outbid him.
  • Reply 8 of 33
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by johnnyb0731 View Post


    Exactly. Just buy the song and create the ringtone in garage band



    Yet, people will flock and buy them even though they already own the songs. Buy the album and create your own ringtones. Gotta love marketing hype....sucks them in like cattle heading for slaughter.
  • Reply 9 of 33
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by I am a Zither Zather Zuzz View Post


    I wish that Yoko had never made a deal with the devil. I hate hearing bastardized versions of Beatles songs.



    I'm not sure why, but when I hear Beatles songs re-purposed for TV ads, I hate it. When I hear the same sort of thing by The Who, I don't mind.



    Maybe it is because I know that the Beatles themselves were opposed to that sort of use of their songs.



    I loved the use of Instant Karma many years back over an Nike commercial. Not quite Beatles but as good as.
  • Reply 10 of 33
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The songs are available exclusively on the iTunes Store, which means only iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users will be able to purchase the tracks and use them as custom alerts on their iOS device.



    yes, cuz no-one else in the world knows how to create a ringtone.
  • Reply 11 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Quantz View Post


    Where are they ?

    iTunes page gives the albums, but no ringtones link.



    Good question. I can see them on my iPhone in iTunes, but not in the Mac App.



    I've never bought a ringtone. Maybe they don't sell them in the Mac App.



    Banner ad but no ringtones. Weird. I'll be so glad when they overhaul iTunes later this year.
  • Reply 12 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by deepriver View Post


    When I hear a strain of Yesterday in the back ground, I become happy, and it puts a smile on my face. I was opposed to the commercial application at first. Now, it just makes the day a little better.



    Whenever I here that Song "yesterday" I cringe, I saw an interview with John where he was asked about all the songs he "co-wrote" with Paul.



    His answers to who wrote Yesterday was and I am paraphrasing:-



    "Oh God no! I would never write a song like that, I'm only interested in looking forward - not backwards, that was Paul's gig!"
  • Reply 13 of 33
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by icoco3 View Post


    Yet, people will flock and buy them even though they already own the songs. Buy the album and create your own ringtones. Gotta love marketing hype....sucks them in like cattle heading for slaughter.



    Not sure about that. The reason MANY people buy instead of creating their own is that a) It is quicker, b) Soooooo easy, and c) its cheap enough.



    Its the same with iTunes - or certainly was in the past when people questioned why you'd pay 99 cents for a song when it was available for free. People will usually choose the path of least resistance as long as that path won't break the bank. Steve Jobs was absolutely right.
  • Reply 14 of 33
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    I would just use GarageBand, but then I've already got everything on CD from Rubber Soul onward...
  • Reply 14 of 33
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Paul94544 View Post


    Whenever I here that Song "yesterday" I cringe, I saw an interview with John where he was asked about all the songs he "co-wrote" with Paul.



    His answers to who wrote Yesterday was and I am paraphrasing:-



    "Oh God no! I would never write a song like that, I'm only interested in looking forward - not backwards, that was Paul's gig!"



    Or as John sang - 'the only thing you did was yesterday...'
  • Reply 16 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    If the whole song is $1.29 on iTunes, why is a 30 second ringtone also $1.29?



    'Cuz Sir Paul is a 1%er!

    /

    /

    /
  • Reply 17 of 33
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    If the whole song is $1.29 on iTunes, why is a 30 second ringtone also $1.29?



    Can't you just set the actual song as a ringtone or an alert on the phone itself?
  • Reply 18 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jfanning View Post


    Can't you just set the actual song as a ringtone or an alert on the phone itself?



    Ringtones have to be 30 seconds.
  • Reply 19 of 33
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,807member
    Ringtones are extremely easy to make on Android or for the iPhone. Why anyone would buy one instead of just making their own seems silly to me. You don't even need Garage band. the easiest way is to trim it in either iTunes or Quicktime to less than 39 seconds. Make an AAC version, then drop it on the makeiphoneringtone app
  • Reply 20 of 33
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by elroth View Post


    You know that the use of Beatles songs is controlled/owned by Sony and the Michael Jackson estate, right? Not the actual Beatle performances, but companies can use the songs and hire Beatle sound-alikes to perform them for commercials. McCartney was all set years ago to buy the song publishing rights (which the Beatles never owned), but he happened to tell Michael Jackson he was going to do it, and Jackson stepped in and outbid him.



    The story I read a few years ago was that Paul introduced Michael to the whole buying copyright thing in the first place and when the Beatles catalogue came on the market, Michael asked Paul if he was going to bid, Paul said "No" as he considered it too expensive (?) and Michael bid for them and bought them. Supposedly Paul had changed his mind on the last second and was not happy that Michael had paid, if i recall correctly, $47m for them at the time, so in effect increased their value to stratospheric levels. So no future chance of Paul getting them back either unless he paid even more!



    Then Sony screwed over Michael with his last album by not promoting it (as they had done with George Michael) and then when Michael was financially down (Invincible was the most expensive album ever to make), did a deal to become half owners of the Beatles copyrights!



    Now Sony get to exploit the Beatles back catalogue in anyway they like... ringtones, adverts etc...
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