Among the iTunes hold outs I've talked about recently, Linkin' Park was an oddity. The band has a relatively short shelf life in comparisson with other notable iTunes no-shows (Kid Rock, Radiohead, Bob Seeger to name a few), so their inclusion in a list contianing some rather powerful acts was puzzling.

Hold outs no more; As of this week Linkin' Park's entire catalog will be available via iTunes. "We were really excited when iTunes told us that we were one of their most requested acts," said Mike Shinoda, Linkin Park. "We will never ignore our fans and the timing seemed right to make our music available, with some special additions."

I'm still a bit baffled at why a band with obvious marketing savvy has avoided itunes for so long. Individual tracks from not only Linkin' Park but Fort Minor (LP lead Mike Shinoda's side project) have been available for quite some time online. Fort Minor has even been the subject of a widely publicized remix contest that represented a partnership between Shinoda, his label and the Creative Commons foundation.

Read the press release here.