iTunes adds try before you buy App Store, but still no Beatles

Yoko Ono and the surviving Beatles have yet again ruled out the band's arrival on iTunes. In better news, Apple has introduced a section of the iTunes App Store that kind of, sort of, lets you try out apps for free before you buy them. It collects together 'lite' versions of apps -- that is, free sample versions of paid-for apps.

Could this be the first step towards proper try-before-you-buy for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad? The Android marketplace supports 24-hour free trials of apps. The iTunes method of downloading a free sample then having to download a separate app if you choose to pay for extra features isn't terribly elegant.

The feature hasn't actually reached the UK iTunes store yet, although it may see a resurgence of interest in Try It Before You Buy It, the 1975 album by Chicago bluesman Mike Bloomfield.

Something else that won't be in iTunes anytime soon is the back catalogue of niche Liverpool beat combo the Beatles. Yoko Ono, respected artist and widow of John Lennon, told Reuters that she and George Harrison's widow Olivia and surviving band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were "holding out" against the band's music finally appearing in digital form.

The band live on as augmented reality and Rock Band characters, but classic songs such as Hey Jude, Let It Be and Maxwell's Silver Hammer are nowhere to be found in online stores.

Ono conceded that "Steve Jobs has his own idea and he's a brilliant guy. But there's just an element that we're not very happy about, as people." We wonder what element these multimillionaires aren't happy about, as people. Could it be Apple's cut?

If you really need those moptop MP3s, there's a memory stick of the band's full back catalogue. If you're not bothered about the Beatles, download iTunes for free.