I think of the Aerosmith story in two parts, everything that happened before the release of their hit album Permanent Vacation and everything after.

It’s the everything after part that’s shaky, including some mediocre music and a lead singer playing judge on a hack talent show. But in the days before “Dude Looks Like A Lady” reignited the band’s popularity in 1987, Aerosmith released a series of albums between 1973 and 1987 that contain some of the finest music in rock n’ roll history.

And now, Apple has signed a mega deal with Columbia Records to add never before released digital versions of these classic Aerosmith albums to iTunes, which are available right now.

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Not sure if he’s still ticked off from not being selected for this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but for some reason Jon Bon Jovi has decided to pin all what ails the music industry on Steve Jobs – accusing the Apple CEO of ‘killing the music business.’

Grasping at the nostalgia of rifling through albums at the local record store, Bon Jovi figures the rise of iTunes has taken away from the joy of discovering music. Last I checked the Bon Jovi catalog was still available on iTunes, so he can’t be that mad.

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It was always a matter of when, not if, for Apple to start negotiating with record companies to loosen the reins and allow consumers unlimited use of their iTunes music.

According to Bloomberg, Apple are in talks with a number of labels, including Universal Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, to provide users more flexible access to music they’ve purchased across multiple devices. An agreement could be announced by midyear.

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Since its inception, few of us have questioned iTunes’ dominance in the digital music arena. Aside from offering the largest selection of songs and artists available for download, features such as user created playlists and mixes–basically hipper, more democratized versions of those ”if you liked this, you might also like” recommendations–have allowed users to expand their musical horizons.

However, with gadgets like the iPad becoming more and more prevalent in society, some music fans have expressed a lack of satisfaction with iTunes and have sought new programs and applications to immerse themselves more fully in the musical experience. One such app making a name for itself is Aweditorium.

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The great news is that Bob Seger announced yesterday that he and his Silver Bullet Band are planning a new tour that begins this March. It’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s first set of shows since 2006-07 in support of Face the Promise, which was his first album since It’s a Mystery in ’95. There’s also rumors of a new album this year.

Here’s the not-so-great news: his catalog still isn’t available on iTunes.

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In the aftermath of last week’s big deal that finally delivered the Beatles to iTunes, a whopping 450,000 albums and 2 million individual songs were sold on Apple’s digital store worldwide, according to Apple.

Among the catalog of 13 Beatles studio albums released last week, the best-selling album was Abbey Road and best-selling song was “Here Comes the Sun.” Sadly, “Here Comes the Sun” failed to finish the week in the top ten.

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Apple has – finally! – reached an agreement to sell Beatles albums on iTunes, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Apple on Monday posted a message on the iTunes homepage that it would make “an exciting announcement” Tuesday morning.

Well, Tuesday morning is here and the Cupertino, Calif. boys did not disappoint; a deal for legal downloading of the Fab Four’s catalog of 200-plus songs recorded from 1962-1970 is finally realized.

Most of the 13 original studio albums in the deal run $12.99, and individual tracks are available for $1.29 each.

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Apple on Monday posted a message on the iTunes homepage that it would make “an exciting announcement” Tuesday morning.

Well, Tuesday morning isn’t here yet, but already speculation is that Apple will announce that it would soon start carrying the Beatles’ music catalog.

An agreement for legal downloading of the group’s catalog of music from 1962-1970 is about to be announced by Steve Jobs’ Apple Inc., the Beatles’ Apple Corps and EMI/Capitol Records, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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Good news for commitment-weary iTunes shoppers: Apple has sent word to the music labels that it will start to triple the length of music previews on iTunes from 30 seconds to 90 seconds.

MacRumours has reported if a song’s run time is under 2 minutes and 30 second, the preview time will stay at 30 seconds.

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