Beatles iPod goes on sale at Bloomingdale’s

The long-awaited limited edition Beatles-branded iPod has gone on sale at exclusively at Bloomingdale’s.

The 120GB iPod classic is available only in black, and features a Beatles logo laser-etched onto the front and a silhouette of the Abbey Road album cover on the back. The laser etching was done by the EtchStar company.

The collector’s box retails at $795, which includes the iPod, selections from The Beatles’ back catalogue on CD, and an engraved guitar plectrum. The box is limited to 2,500 units, and is part of an exclusive deal between Bloomingdale’s and Apple Corps Ltd for the rights to Beatles images.

The CDs included in the collection are:

• Please Please Me
• With The Beatles
• A Hard Day’s Night
• Beatles For Sale
• Help!
• Rubber Soul
• Revolver
• Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Magical Mystery Tour
• The Beatles (White Album)
• Yellow Submarine
• Let It Be
• Past Masters Volume One
• Past Masters Volume Two
• Let It Be… Naked
• Love

Among the releases absent from the CD collection are Live At The BBC, Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Anthology 1, 2 and 3.

The Beatles iPods do not contain any pre-loaded digital music files, so plenty of ripping will be involved by lucky purchasers.

News on the availability of Beatles music on iTunes is conspicuous by its absence. The group’s back catalogue is known to have been remastered, but Apple Corps have so far held off a reissue programme.