ranging from Lennon's first solo album with the Plastic Ono Band to "Imagine" and "Double Fantasy" will be sold by online services like Napster, Rhapsody, MSN Music and Yahoo Music Unlimited, EMI Music said. Lennon's two-CD greatest-hits collection, "Working Class Hero," is already in digital format for purchase on Internet music sites starting on Monday, EMI said. The rest of his solo collection will be available for download starting Dec. 5 in Britain and Dec. 6 in the United States. A select number of Lennon tracks will also be offered for digital download directly to cell phones. "Working Class Hero" has hardly been a commercial blockbuster in bricks-and-mortar stores.

Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, said she was happy her late husband's music would now be available to a new generation of digital music fans.

"New technology is something he always embraced and this is something he would have loved," she said. EMI is in talks with Apple Corps about offering Beatles music for digital downloads in the future. To date, none of the band's recordings have been made available on a legal download service.

George Harrison's solo catalog is not available for download on legitimate music sites. Nor is Paul McCartney's, except for his latest album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard". According to Daily Variety, some of Ringo Starr's solo work can be bought for online delivery, but none of the complete records he made in the 1970s. The digital release of Lennon's songs roughly coincides with his 65th birthday last month and the 25th anniversary of his murder by a deranged fan outside his New York apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980. He was 40 when he was killed.

Reuters