The Beatles prior to the their first appearance in Chicago, September 1964. The Beatles are preparing to sell their songs online after years of refusing to take part in the Internet music boom, according to the testimony given by the head of their record company. Neil Aspinall, a former Beatles road manager and managing director of Apple Corps, was a witness in the company's trademark lawsuit against Apple Computer. He said that the company was digitally remastering the entire Beatles catalog, which would pave the way for selling the songs online. "We're remastering the whole Beatles catalog, just to make it sound brighter and better," he said in a written statement submitted to the High Court in London earlier this month. A spokeswoman for Apple Corps confirmed Aspinall's statement, and said that the company is preparing to make the Beatles catalog available through online music services. "There's no firm date on any of this at the moment. There are a lot of projects that Apple is working on at the moment," she said on Thursday. Famed Beatles producer George Martin said. "The audience will feel as though they are actually in the room with the band." The remastering is being supervised by Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and George Harrison. The Beatles have been high-profile holdouts from the booming online music sector, which saw sales triple to $1.1 billion in 2005. Apple Corps have accused Apple Computer of violating a 1991 agreement by using the Apple name and logo to sell music downloads through its iTunes Music Store. The trial ended on April 6, with a decision from the judge due after Easter.

披头士乐队唱片公司日前证实，目前披头士乐队正准备在网上销售他们的歌曲，而在此前的几年里，披头士对飞速发展的“网络音乐”一直持拒绝态度。 前披头士乐队领队、苹果唱片公司总监尼尔·阿斯皮纳亲身经历了该唱片公司与苹果电脑公司的商标权诉讼案件。 他说，公司正在对披头士专辑中的所有歌曲重新进行数字灌录，为在线付费下载做准备。 本月初，他在提交给伦敦高级法院的一份书面申明中说：“目前我们正在重新灌制乐队的所有专辑，目的是要让这些歌曲听起来更清晰，效果更好”。 苹果唱片公司的一位发言人对阿斯皮纳发表的声明进行了证实，她说，公司正准备提供披头士乐队专辑歌曲的在线音乐服务。 本周四，据这位发言人介绍，目前上网发布的时间还没有确定，苹果唱片公司现在有很多事情需要处理。 披头士乐队著名的音乐制作人乔治·马丁说：“听众们将会有一种在现场听乐队演唱的感觉。” 歌曲的数字灌录由披头士乐队的成员保罗·麦考特尼、瑞恩格·斯塔尔以及约翰·列侬的遗孀大野洋子和乔治·哈里森监制。 此前，披头士乐队对日益红火的在线音乐行业一直是坚决不合作。2005年，在线音乐的销售量增加了两倍，达到110亿美元。 苹果唱片公司此前指控苹果电脑公司违反了两家公司于1991年达成的协定，苹果电脑使用苹果唱片公司的商标名及标识，通过iTunes 在线音乐商店提供付费音乐下载业务。 此案的审判于4月6日结束，法官将于复活节后宣布审判结果。 (中国日报网站编译)