The settlement between Apple and the Beatles could be just the tip of the iceberg as far as the music industry is concerned. With the legalities out of the way, Apple could sell iPods pre-loaded with music. The repercussions of such a move would be humongous. If this were to happen, then Apple could start offering cheap shuffle iPods pre-loaded with happening new albums or artists' catalogs. A whole new range of inexpensive, special-edition iPods containing popular bands or new albums, or their whole catalogs would be a dream. Apple’s iTunes Store was the subject of the 2003 lawsuit, and they successfully stepped around this limitation by using the Internet to distribute music. But this left Apple shortchanged, as it could neither pre-install music on iPods, or otherwise sell it on any physical medium, such as discs. That’s why the U2 Special Edition iPods didn’t actually include U2’s music. The possibilities with the pre-loaded iPods are endless, so lets what the big guys the house figure out and offers us consumers to lap up!
(A hot tip after the jump)

The hot tip doing the rounds is that first up will be Beatles special-edition Yellow Submarine iPod, slated to be out in just over a week on Valentine's Day. What better gift for the crazed Beatles fans to get the remastered, uncompressed format than this. Another marketing strategy could be that they tie up with hot and upcoming bands and pre-load their music onto the iPod, and every one goes smiling to the bank! “It's going to be the biggest change to the iPod since the iTunes online store debuted in 2002.”

It's going to be the biggest change to the iPod since the iTunes online store debuted in 2002.