Following the solo catalogs of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, and Ringo Starr, George Harrison has joined the digital market this week.

Despite being the last solo Beatle catalog to be made available, Harrison's catalog is the most recent to be upgraded and remastered for physical release, and those editions are the versions now available in digital stores. While that is no surprise, what it means is that there are two albums actually missing from the new digital catalog: 1974s Dark Horse and 1975s Extra Texture (Read All About It). It seems apparent from remarks by Harrison's widow, Olivia, that the remastering work will not cease because of this move.

All that remains now is for The Beatles catalog to be made available, but that is still rumored for some time in the new year. With that addition, quite a body of work will be available for fans and listeners digitally, even if the solo catalogs are not true successors to the group's catalog. It is unfortunate that the solo catalog's would be made available before the group catalog, especially for new fans that have no guide to understand how the music of the solo catalog's follows and makes distance from the output of The Beatles. Some might see that as a positive in light of views that The Beatles were a John or a Paul show, but that is what it is.

The reality of the situation is that The Beatles managing company Apple Corps Ltd. was in dispute with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for so long, pushing off other projects like remastering (which now seems to coincide with the pending digital release). The Apple vs. Apple case ended in April 2006 in favor of the iPod makers. Apple is reportedly one of the major companies in talks with The Beatles representatives to get the band into stores like iTunes.

Ringo Starr's post-Beatles EMI (LSE: EMI) catalog goes up for sale digitally today, making him the third Beatle whose solo catalog has become available on digital retailers such as 7digital.com and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iTunes Store. Starr's EMI catalog, which includes four albums released between 1970 and 1974, joins the rest of his catalog in those online stores. Today also marks the release of a new compilation CD from Ringo under the EMI banner to promote the online offering, the first time the drummer has been with the British music giant since his Beatle contract ended in 1975.

The solo catalogs of Paul McCartney and John Lennon have been for sale for three months and two weeks, respectively, though the digital sale of Ringo's catalog was announced shortly after McCartney's became available. Lennon's catalog was issued online quite unexpectedly earlier this month. The only catalog not available digitally is George Harrison's, which has seen new CD remasters released periodically over the past seven years. Of those remasters, only last year's update of Living in the Material World and this year's reissue of the Traveling Wilburys collection are available from various digital retailers.

Rumors continue to circle that The Beatles catalog itself may be issued by the end of this year or sometime early next year, but nothing has been confirmed or denied. In the past year alone, The Beatles have experienced a kind of celebratory resurgence after the opening of the Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show, Love, and the release of the accompanying soundtrack album. The month of June witnessed various solo and related projects from the Beatles members charting high in the Billboard 200 (the only Beatle missing was Ringo). The new digital catalog and accompanying compilation may change that fact, giving all four Beatles hit albums in 2007. A film due for release next month will additionally explore the music of The Beatles and the time period they lived in.

Billboard reported yesterday that former Beatle Ringo Starr will issue his entire Capitol Records (an American record label under EMI Group PLC (LSE: EMI) catalog digitally in late August. Joining fellow Beatle Paul McCartney (who just turned 65), Ringo is the second of the four members to issue a solo catalog online, and it will be released without Digital Rights Management technology, just as the current EMI catalogs, including McCartney's, are available.

The release will encompass the four post-Beatles albums Starr recorded for The Beatles own Apple Records and Capitol Records in the early 1970s. Billboard notes that this "move raises further speculation that the Beatles catalog is next in line for digital release," but that excludes the catalog's of John Lennon and George Harrison, neither of which have seen digital release despite recent remastering reissues in the last five years. Lennon and Harrison were originally with EMI through the end of their "Beatle" contracts in 1975, moving to different labels after that. Both artist's catalogs have now reverted to EMI via the executor's of their estates (their wives).

Despite the constant rumors about The Beatles impending release, it is still nice to see this kind of development. No news may be made official about The Beatles, but one more step is one more indicator as Billboard says. In any event, the current rumor is that 2008 will be the year of Beatles reissues.