Beatles online soon says Sir Paul

Solo music by all four Beatles members is available online

The Beatles' music should be available online next year, Sir Paul McCartney has told a US music website.

"It's down to fine-tuning, but I'm pretty sure it'll be happening next year, 2008," he told Billboard.com.

The Fab Four are one of the last major acts to withhold their back catalogue from stores like iTunes and Napster.

Sir Paul said the delay was due to contractual issues and planning by all parties involved. "You've got to get these things right," he said.

"You don't want to do something that's as cool as that and in three years time you think, 'Oh God, why did we do that?'"

Sir Paul added: "There's just maybe one little sticking point left, and I think it's being cleared up as we speak, so it shouldn't be too long."

Albums by the late Beatle George Harrison were made available online last month, meaning solo music by all four band members can now be bought digitally.

EMI is believed to have been on the verge of releasing The Beatles' back catalogue as digital downloads since February, when the band's record label Apple Corps settled a long-running trademark dispute with technology giant Apple Inc.

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Sony makes most of Wii shortages

The PlayStation 3 was launched last year in Japan

Sony is taking advantage of Nintendo Wii shortages and a recent price cut of the PlayStation 3 to double weekly sales of the console in the US.

Sony boss Howard Stringer told the Associated Press news agency: "It's a little fortuitous that the Wii is running out of hardware."

Two weeks after the price cut Sony sold 100,000 PS3s in seven days.

Mr Stringer said the increase in sales of the console was "the breakthrough we have been anticipating."

He added: "Obviously, we've taken so much heat over the year on PS3. Finally, the turning point has been passed."

Nintendo has become a victim of its own success, with many shops in the US and UK struggling to meet demand.

A spokesman for Nintendo UK denied that the company was witholding supply to boost interest.

"The video games market is a fiercely competitive one and it is not in our interest to withhold stock from anyone," he said.

Microsoft and Nintendo have not released weekly sales figures for their consoles.

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