Apple, EMI Meeting Has Digital World Buzzing About Beatles iPod

Apr 02, 11:29 AM

Current Headlines: By Thomas Crampton THE NEW YORK TIMES

PARIS -- Relations between Apple Inc. and the EMI Group, once at odds over the trademark rights to the Apple name, the record label of the Beatles, seem to be getting better all the time.

On Sunday, Steven P. Jobs, the Apple chief executive, announced a joint news conference to be held in London today with Eric L. Nicoli, chief executive of EMI, the British music giant.

But the news set off a torrent of speculation about the agenda. Theories ranged from an iPod, factory-filled with Beatles music, to a shift toward selling digital music without copy protection.

Speculation that the Beatles' music, which has been unavailable on legitimate digital music services, might soon be licensed for download from Apple's iTunes service has been rife since early February, when Apple Inc. and Apple Corps, the guardian of the Beatles' music interests, announced that they had settled their dispute over the technology company's name and its use of an apple logo.

Both EMI and Apple have indicated an interest in offering music without anti-piracy protection.

If the announcement today does involve the Beatles, the experiment may be a Yellow Submarine iPod that comes supplied with Beatles tracks.

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