Led Zeppelin fans with an insatiable appetite for trivia -- like the location of the photo shoot for the cover of the 1973 disc “Houses of the Holy" or the number of different LP sleeves that were issued for the group's 1979 opus “In Through the Out Door” -- can get their Zeppelin fix and more in a new iPhone/iPad app.

“This Day in Led Zeppelin,” released Monday, follows the popular “This Day in Music” app -- which is a companion to the website and book of the same name.

The Zeppelin app boasts an exhaustive 1,000-plus pages worth of tidbits about the band.

“I had the idea of making individual apps for some of the biggest acts in the world, and thought the best one to start with would be Zeppelin, because of their iconic status,” said Neil Cossar of This Day in Music, in a statement about the app.

John Lennon isn’t the only rock star with a 70th birthday in 2010. Frank Zappa would have hit 7-0 today, Dec. 21, and to mark the occasion his estate has assembled a birthday bundle of a dozen recordings that is now up on iTunes.

“The Frank Zappa Aaafnraaaa Collection” includes half a dozen tracks from the man himself (“Treacherous Cretins,” “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama” and “City of Tiny Lites”), a few featuring offspring Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa plus a couple of salutes to the influential composer, guitarist and singer by Macy Gray (“Your Mouth”) and a compendium of admirers including DMC, Talib Kweli and MMM.

The live rendition of “City of Tiny Lites” was recorded in 1978 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon and is drawn from the three-CD "Frank Zappa: Hammersmith Odeon" set released earlier this month, also in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of his birth. Zappa's widow, Gail, said none of the tracks had been previously released. Another live track on the new "Aaanfraaaa Collection," this one from 1988 -- five years before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee died of prostate cancer -- captures Zappa’s version of “Stairway to Heaven.”

 
 
When Apple Inc. announced last week that the Beatles’ catalog would at long last be available for legal downloading on iTunes, many skeptics groused that the two entities had come together too late: Everyone who cares about the group’s music long ago found a way to store it on their PCs, laptops or MP3 players.

Apparently not.

Apple announced Tuesday that 450,000 Beatles albums and 2 million individual tracks were downloaded during the first week they went up online. That translates to well more than $8 million spent on Beatles downloads out of the gate, using the single album download price of $12.99 and $1.29 per song. It doesn’t take into account several double albums priced at $19.99 or the digital Beatles box set that iTunes offers for $149.

At the same time the Beatles finally joined the digital world, Amazon began discounting the remastered physical CDs that were released last year, with individual albums now selling for $7.99, double sets for $11.99 and $12.99 and the 16-CD stereo box set priced at $129.99, making the tangible versions cheaper than the virtual ones. Consequently, six Beatles titles are in the Top 100 of Amazon’s ranking of its bestselling music titles as of Tuesday.

-- Randy Lewis

So Nov. 16, 2010. Never forget. By now you've surely programmed the date as a yearly "event" into your iPhone, an annual reminder of the day your music collecting habits forever changed.

Look, no love lost for the Beatles. Pop & Hiss adores the Beatles. Yay Beatles. And it's about time Beatles songs are available on iTunes.

Now, not to be Cranky Man Cynic, but the development was treated with a wee bit more fanfare than necessary. Granted, it was not met with the same media shock as was The Beatles: Rock Band (GASP! Will future generations only know of Paul McCartney as a video game character?), but the topic dominated news and Twitter feeds, and nary a headline or story went without the phrase "finally on iTunes." Sure, finally, but Nov. 16 has come and gone without changing the world, so forgive the #kanyeshrug on behalf of this writer.

In fact, here's five reasons not to be excited.

Nearly a decade after Apple Inc. introduced iTunes, the digital downloading service has finally acquired the music of the Beatles.  Apple on Tuesday rolled out the Fab Four’s music for legal downloading for the first time, offering 17 albums encompassing all 13 of the group’s original studio albums, the two “Past Masters” collections of non-album tracks, two double-album hits compilations and a box set including everything except the hits collections.

Individual tracks are being sold for $1.29, the single albums for $12.99, double sets for $19.99, and the box set is priced at $149. The digital box set also includes an exclusive-to-iTunes concert film, "Live at Washington Coliseum, 1964," never previously released officially.

"We're really excited to bring the Beatles' music to iTunes," Paul McCartney said in a statement issued Tuesday. "It's fantastic to see the songs we originally released on vinyl receive as much love in the digital world as they did the first time around."
 
"I am particularly glad to no longer be asked when the Beatles are coming to iTunes," Ringo Starr added in the same statement. "At last, if you want it -- you can get it now.”

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs said, "It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we've had since we launched iTunes 10 years ago."

 “It’s great to see Apple finally joining civilization here in 2010,” said Chris Carter, host of the long-running “Breakfast With the Beatles” program on KLOS-FM (95.5) in Southern California and on Sirius XM Satellite radio.

-- Randy Lewis

 
The refrain of “Don’t Let Me Download” from the Beatles may come to end as the Fab Four’s catalog reportedly will be coming to iTunes shortly, according to the Wall Street Journal.

An agreement for legal downloading of the group’s cherished catalog of more than 200 songs recorded from 1962-1970 is about to be announced by Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc., the Beatles’ Apple Corps and EMI/Capitol Records, the Journal reports.

Representatives for EMI/Capitol, surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and Apple Corps did not respond immediately to requests for comment. A spokesman for Apple Inc. said Monday that the company had no comment on the report. The company is making what it claims will be an “exciting”  announcement on Tuesday morning.

A source close to the Beatles camp told The Times on Monday that such an agreement would not be surprising given the recent posting on iTunes of the entire Apple Records catalog of recordings, excluding the Beatles’ music. That consists of 15 albums by acts the Beatles signed and recorded in the late '60s and early 1970s after creating their own Apple Records label, among them Badfinger, James Taylor, Mary Hopkin and Jackie Lomax.

“The working relationship between Apple [Corps] and iTunes started with the remastered versions of songs by Apple recordings artists other than those named John, Paul, George and Ringo,” the source said. “What Paul has done with his own [solo] stuff, or what anyone who owns their own masters has done is not nearly as significant because these non-Beatle Apple artists are truly what Apple owns. With Apple going in that direction, it’s a significant clue as to what lies ahead” for the Beatles’ own recordings.

The Beatles have been the biggest holdout from the iTunes world, but several other major acts still have not licensed music to the downloading service, including Garth Brooks, Kid Rock, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Tool and Bob Seger.

(Update at 5:02 p.m.:) Shortly after the 2007 resolution of a long-standing dispute between the Beatles' Apple Corps and Steve Jobs' Apple Inc.,  another lawsuit was settled between Apple Corps and EMI Records dispute over royalty payments that Apple said was owed by EMI.

Last year Paul McCartney said the only hurdle to posting the group's music online was remaining differences between EMI and Apple Corps'  "principals": himself, Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and George Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison. The settlement of those issues led to the posting on iTunes in recent weeks of the non-Beatles Apple Records catalog, which led to considerable speculation that the Beatles music wouldn't be far behind.

No details were reported of whatever deal may have been reached between the Beatles, Apple Inc and EMI, but speculation immediately began as to how much Beatles downloads will cost.

“They will likely take the position that the Beatles made some of the greatest music ever recorded,” the source said. “I suspect it will be at a premium price.”

Most Beatles watchers felt it was just a matter of time until the group’s music became available for downloading following the digital remastering of the entire catalog last year. That music was released on individual CDs and in two box sets that sold strongly during the final quarter of 2009. EMI and Capitol also recently reissued two hits “best-of” compilations that originally appeared in 1973: “The Beatles/1962-1966” and “The Beatles/1967-1970,” aka the “Red” and “Blue” albums.

“It’s great to see Apple finally joining civilization here in 2010,” said Chris Carter, host of the long-running “Breakfast with the Beatles” program on KLOS-FM (95.5) in Southern California and on Sirius XM Satellite radio. “I don’t think there’s a downside to it. Where else are you going to be able to find a copy of ‘Beatles for Sale’ when you need it late on a Friday night?’”

--Randy Lewis

Photo: The Beatles performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964. Credit: Associated Press

Having conquered the dance world by winning the first season of "America's Best Dance Crew," touring with New Kids on the Block, and headlining their third stint of their own Las Vegas show, MUS.I.C. (muse-eye-see), JabbaWockeeZ are making the logical leap with their next project: releasing a single.

With their producing partners the Bangerz, the dance group has released "Robot Remains" on iTunes. Many in the crew had already dabbled in music production, but they found symbiotic artistic souls in the Bangerz, and decided to go all out.

The Bangerz "are like brothers to us," says Phil "Swaggerboy" Tayag of JabbaWockeeZ. "We were listening to them before we even hooked up to do music. Their intricate beats and sounds vibe well with the way we move."

As for the Bangerz, they'd also known of the JabbaWockeeZ, and saw a kindred interpretation of what both groups are calling "the sight and sound movement."

"They're the visual component of the sound that we create. If our sound really looked like something, it would look like the JabbaWockeeZ," says Goldenchylde, a member of the Bangerz.

"With the JabbaWockeeZ being trendsetters in the world of dance, they were really the only ones who got what we were trying to do with our first album -- building a visual representation of our music," added Cutso, another member of the Bangerz. "They really got the message from us. And not only got the message, but responded."

Ever wanted to play your music collection from anytime, anywhere you wanted? Up until recently, that was pie-in-the-sky talk. Now, that notion is at least coming down to the clouds.

MP3tunes on Monday launched a service that promises to let its subscribers do just that from their mobile devices, using "cloud computing" where the music files are stored on server computers that can be summoned on virtually any device with an Internet connection.

The San Diego-based company, in launching its new "Buy Anywhere, Listen Everywhere" service, made a dig at Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store, which requires buyers of digital songs to take the extra step of converting their purchased songs to a different file format to make them playable on non-Apple devices.

"Apple wants to lock you into their store and devices," said Michael Robertson, chief executive of MP3tunes who also founded the original MP3.com site in 1997. "But what's best for consumers is to be able to shop at any store and use it with any device."

It's not a new idea. But it's taken some time for both the technology and the legal hurdles to catch up (to read more on the legal drama, just read past the break below). David Pakman, a digital music pioneer and now a venture capitalist at Venrock in New York, started the first such service in 1999 with MyPlay.com.

"The concept makes even more sense now than it did back then," Pakman said. "Everyone consumes music digitally, and there is a need for a universal storage space in the cloud that works with all devices."

Robertson's career has followed the many ups and downs of the music industry's tumultous attempt to cope with the migration of music from CDs to online digital files, and the torrent of piracy that ensued. His first company, MP3.com, ...

Attention this week has turned to the pricing of music at online retailers, with indications that the Department of Justice has begun looking into promotional strategies by Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Any probes are said to be in the "preliminary" stages, according to those familiar with the department's questioning, but are focused on whether Apple leaned on labels not to participate in Amazon's $3.99 "daily deal" promotions.

The Justice Department's deputy director of public affairs, Gina Talamona, declined to comment on the matter, neither confirming nor denying the inquest. Representatives from Apple and Amazon had earlier declined to comment to The Times. Yet all four music labels -- EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group -- were contacted by Justice Department officials several weeks ago, sources told The Times' Alex Pham.

Amazon's low-priced fire sales are nothing new, as the digital retailer has tried to gain traction on Apple's iTunes store, the world's largest music retailer. U2's "No Line on the Horizon," for instance, was discounted to $3.99 during its first week of release, and Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimest" posted high digital sales numbers after being given the nice price of $3.99 in its first week, with 13,000 of its first-week sales of 33,000 coming from the digital marketplace .

Four months after buying Lala Media's popular online music service for a reported $80 million, Apple is pulling the plug on the site, which had been operating for five years.

Lala notifed its users in an e-mail Friday morning of the shutdown. Apple spokesman Jason Roth confirmed the plans, but declined to say whether the Cupertino, Calif., company will resurrect the service under Apple's iTunes brand.

Lala lets users listen to any song in its catalog in its entirety once for free. After which, listeners can sample the song again for 30 seconds or buy a digital download of the song for 89 cents. What separated Lala from other music services, however, was its concept of a "Web song." Listeners could play a song an unlimited number of times for 10 cents, as long as they are connected to the site. 

The difference: Downloaded songs are stored on a user's computer and can be copied to other computers and devices. Web song files sit on Lala's computers and can only be played while the listener is connected to the Lala site. This is sometimes called "cloud" access.

There has been much speculation about whether Apple would use Lala's technology to create its own music streaming subscription service to compete with Rhapsody or MOG, which charge monthly fees for on-demand access to their extensive song catalogs. Another possibility is that Apple could use Lala's cloud approach to let customers who purchase a song from iTunes also have online access to that song in a sort of pay-once-play-anywhere idea.

While cloud computing offers convenience, the downside is clear in the case of Lala. Many users who have spent years diligently building their "digital lockers" on Lala woke up to find that those collections will evaporate on May 31.

Lala said it will compensate users, telling them "you will receive a credit in the amount of your Lala web song purchases for use on Apple's iTunes Store. If you purchased and downloaded mp3 songs from Lala, those songs will continue to play as part of your local music library. Remaining wallet balances and unredeemed gift cards will be converted to iTunes Store credit (or can be refunded upon request)."

Cue the swan song.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.