There's a lot of hype about the lads from Liverpool lately, and not just because the music biz is nostalgic about being profitable. Rolling Stone had a cover story about why the band broke up, and the NY Times Magazine's cover article this week is about the upcoming "The Beatles: Rock Band" release (Sept. 9).

The surviving members of the band, plus widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, have been directly involved in the making of the new "Rock Band" software. And even if the game is lacking, the project caused all of the original recording masters -- which had been locked in a vault in Abbey Road Studios (behind a sign reading "Danger: High Voltage") -- to get backed up to digital. That's right: The master recordings of rock royalty were in one physical location, on tape.

If you're part of the cranky older generation who can't stomach a glorified version of air guitar, the Beatles' entire catalog is being released in mono. Back in the day, musicians and producers focused on the mono mix of their songs, because they didn't really think this whole "stereo" thing would catch on. The 13-disc set is coming out the same day as the "Rock Band" game, and pre-orders have already sold out.