Leading article: Hello, goodbye?

"Money, that's what I want" sang the Beatles. It's a craving shared by the record industry, which is once again attempting to use the Fab Four to fill its depleted coffers. Re-mastered versions of the Beatles' albums were released yesterday along with "The Beatles Rock Band" game.

The price of the new box set is £170. Will the "50 quid bloke", named after the record industry's favourite type of customer, stretch that far? And will the rock band format force open the lucrative citadel of younger music fans to the Beatles? There is a case for scepticism. Older music buyers might feel that their collections can bear the absence of these latest recordings. And younger ones could prove less interested in the output of a band that hasn't been around for four decades than the marketers hope.

But then Beatlemania has been defying sceptics for a long time. Who would bet against the band's long and winding road of commercial success having a few miles still left on it?