EMI has shipped 5m remastered CD recordings by The Beatles to retail stores as it looks to the band that helped define the rock and roll album to stem the format's decline in the age of the single track download.

Pre-sales indicated that today's re-release of all 13 UK Beatles albums was on track to be "the biggest catalogue reissue ever conducted in the history of the music business", Ernesto Schmitt, head of EMI's global catalogue business, told the Financial Times.

Amid the understandable hoopla around the release of "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game, one of the most significant events in recorded music of the past 20 years is actually taking a backseat: The long-awaited digital remastering of the Beatles' albums, which haven't received an upgrade since they were first issued on CD in 1987 and are finally hitting stores on Tuesday, the same day as "Rock Band."

Get ready to meet the Beatles again.

On Wednesday, Apple Corps. and EMI will jointly roll out the long-awaited remastered editions of the Beatles studio albums on CD with Digipak sleeves as well as two box sets of the albums, one in stereo and one in mono. The same date will see Harmonix’s release of the “Beatles: Rock Band” game. What’s missing is the availability of the Beatles recordings for digital downloading. A statement from Apple said discussions about this “are continuing,” but rumors are flying that the other Apple may have something in the works, since it announced its annual iPod meeting will also happen Wednesday.

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Beatles’ remastered catalog hassold out on Amazon.com, and record stores from California toLiverpool say fans are eager to pay $300 or more for impeccableversions of favorites like “Love Me Do.”

Amoeba Music in California and HMV Group Plc, the largestU.K. CD retailer, say demand is high for the box sets withcleaned-up versions of the band’s recordings. They go on saletomorrow, along with albums from “Please Please Me” to “LetIt Be.” The release is a once-in-a-lifetime event for thegroup’s die-hard fans, said Stephen Bailey, manager of theBeatles Shop in the band’s U.K. hometown of Liverpool.

"The Beatles: Rock Band" debuts Sept. 9, the same day as the newly remastered Beatles albums. For younger "Rock Band" fans, the eclectic, career-spanning song list will make an excellent introduction to the Fab Four. For older Beatles fans, the game could provide some insight as to why the kids like these rhythm games so much.

The game beefs up the classic Rock Band mix - lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and lead vocals - with the addition of two- and three-part vocal harmonies. That means up to six players can rock simultaneously, but there's going to be a run on extra USB microphones at your local GameStop.