Beatles reunited online as Harrison goes digital

LONDON (Reuters) - Nine albums from the late George Harrison have been made available online through retailers such as Apple's iTunes, record label Parlophone said on Wednesday, as the fourth and final member of the Beatles finally went digital.

As a group, the Beatles have been among the highest-profile holdouts to putting music online but a recent settlement to a lengthy trademark dispute between Apple and the Beatles' company, Apple Corps Ltd, is seen as finally clearing the way.

Parlophone, part of the EMI music group, said nine albums including "All Things Must Pass," were now available from all digital service providers and said more would follow online in the new year.

The announcement means that the solo catalogues of all four Beatles are now available digitally.

"It is exciting that George's catalogue is finally available for downloading," Harrison's widow Olivia said in a statement.

"He had begun the digital remastering of his albums but had no idea how the digital world would change the way we access and listen to music."

Olivia Harrison told Reuters in an interview in June that she hoped the Beatles' music would be put online by 2008, and Paul McCartney told trade publication Billboard earlier this year that an online deal for the group's catalogue was "virtually settled."

But he shied away from saying anything would happen in the short term. Harrison died in 2001.