Beatles music online for 2008, McCartney says

Fans of the Fab Four eager for the band's music to hit the web don't have much longer to wait, according to Paul McCartney.

The former Beatle predicted that the iconic band's music would be available for digital download in 2008, in an interview posted by Billboard.com on Thursday.

"It's all happening soon. Most of us are all sort of ready," said McCartney, who also spoke about releasing a three-DVD collection featuring music, videos and film footage spanning his solo career.

"The whole thing is primed, ready to go — 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."

The Beatles have been one of the last significant holdouts from online music retailers, but McCartney attributed the delay to careful planning and contractual issues.

"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?'"

In the past year — most recently with the albums of the late George Harrison — the solo work of each member have been introduced online, leading most to predict that the Beatles catalogue would soon follow.

Also fuelling speculation was the band's record label — Apple Corps — settling a longtime trademark dispute with technology giant Apple Inc. in February.