Music rumors: An iPod for every album?

It looks like the rumor mill is still ongoing about The Beatles and their future move into the digital world. An article on Pop Matters by Terry Lawson reports that the delay in the move is due to The Beatles intent to go digital across a number of stores, rather than limit it to Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes. It also speaks about specially produced "Beatles iPods" that will hold single albums, feature the original artwork as the casing, and sell for around the same price as a CD (a little more actually -- $15 to $20).

So, for the listener that wants to hear The Beatles remastered, he/she will have the option of a CD, a 5.1 remastered CD, a specially produced iPod or the simple download. That's four formats for 13 albums. Whatever the talk or discussion, the album is not about to die. I've reported about it and given my two cents, but this certainly will only boost the "album." I don't know what to say about the future of the CD anymore though. This could certainly be the end, but an iPod for an album is not a strategically better alternative. In the simplest terms, it is no different than the CD, only the applications are different, and this is even before we know if the DRM will be incorporated into the iPods.

Rumor or not, the prospect of an iPod per album (not limited to The Beatles rumors) is certainly intriguing, but how successful could a product like that be? Especially if the iPhone is slated to come out around the same time (a June release, The Beatles merchandise is rumored for June as well -- the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band). Then again, if the iPhone launch was not an indication for what is to come, I don't know what is.