Whole Lotta Love: Apple's iTunes store starts pre-order for Led Zeppelin

When the levee breaks ... baby, you gotta buy!

The entire catalog of 1970s rock band Led Zeppelin became available for pre-order on Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store yesterday, reports Billboard. Fans who want it all will be able to use the $99 "one-click download" for the band's entire 165-song catalog, but that does not become available until November 13, the day when the catalog can be downloaded.

According to Apple and iTunes executives, securing the Zeppelin catalog has been in the works for four years, and is a really "exciting" time, since the band has been one of the most requested. Billboard also comments the addition leaves only The Beatles and Radiohead as the only two major acts not available from the digital store. The "one-click download" or "digital boxed set" is another feature that iTunes is wielding especially for Led Zeppelin, as executive Eddy Cue told Billboard: "We've held this out for the special artists that have a significant fan base. It's probably the best boxed set we've ever done, in any kind of price range."

With the massive, and low-priced iTunes digital boxed set becoming available the same day as the new greatest hits album Mothership, one has to wonder whether it will make any impact on the physical sales of that compilation. Clearly the 2-disc set will be much cheaper than the boxed set, but an offer such as that makes it easy to acquire the band's entire catalog versus a simple 24-track glimpse. It will be interesting to see if this digital boxed set can impact physical sales more than previous entire catalog sets from iTunes as the number of tracks and price are significantly lower than previous "collections" (For comparison, consider the 2006 $199.99 773-track Bob Dylan Collection -- but the track-per-price ratio there is even better.)

Will only hardcore Zep fans want the "boxed" set over the physical CD set? Time will tell. But as a special bonus, fans who pre-order the tunes get entered into a drawing to attend the band's one-off concert in London this November 26. Now that's a whole lotta love.