Beatles preparing to sell their songs online

LONDON --The Beatles are preparing to sell their songs online after years of refusing to take part in the Internet music boom, a representative for Apple Corps. confirmed yesterday.

Neil Aspinall, a former Beatles road manager and managing director of Apple Corps., first alluded to the move during the company's trademark lawsuit against Apple Computer.

He said that the company was digitally remastering the entire Beatles catalogue, which would pave the way for selling the songs online.

''I think it would be wrong to offer downloads of the old masters when I am making new masters," he said in a written statement submitted to the High Court in London this month.

A spokeswoman for Apple Corps. confirmed yesterday that the company is preparing to make the Beatles catalogue available through online music services, but there is no date set.

The Beatles have been high-profile holdouts from the booming online music sector, which saw sales triple to $1.1 billion in 2005.

Also yesterday, Michael Jackson confirmed that he has restructured his finances with the assistance of Sony Corp. of America, a unit of Sony Corp.

Financial terms weren't disclosed.

According to published reports in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, Jackson, as part of the deal, agreed to sell part of his song catalog, which includes Beatles songs, to Sony.