THIS IS IT AND iTUNES, YES, NO? YES!

“I’m happy to report that story is incorrect," Epic SVP Publicity Lois Najarian told Wired. "Michael Jackson's This Is It album will indeed be available for sale on iTunes on Oct. 27. I don't have much more information to impart other than that right now, but suffice to say fans will be able to purchase it there."

The entire album will be offered, along with a six-song EP of the more recently recorded live material, with all individual tracks available for download, except for the single, "This Is It."

At the time, Najarian acknowledged that the key issue—selling the tracks a la carte or bundling them as an album-only purchase—had yet to be resolved. Though Apple has a longstanding policy against album-only sales, a perusal of the store turns up numerous tracks that can only be purchased as part of a given full album. Not only that, but the recently launched iTunes LP initiative is by its very nature album-only, so there appears to be plenty of wiggle room in the negotiations.

Having the veracity of its information questioned, Digital Music News emphatically updated its original story. “Sony Music Entertainment and Apple have not reached a deal to position Michael Jackson's This Is It on the iTunes Store, according to sources Wednesday,” the new lead trumpets. “As first reported by Digital Music News on Tuesday, Sony has been insisting on a bundled album download, an approach that Apple has rejected. Instead, the iTunes Store positions songs as individual downloads, not forced bundles.”

DMN theorizes that “The Tuesday report appears to be intensifying negotiations with Apple, though sources indicated that Apple is unlikely to bend on its a-la-carte structure.”

The story goes on to say that DMN was contacted Wednesday night by another Sony rep, who “aggressively (and threateningly) insisted…that the deal was cooked, but declined to clarify the earlier contradiction by Najarian, or offer any additional details… Meanwhile, executive sources within the same building are still saying 'no deal,' at least without resolution on the bundling issue.”

Finally, DMN stated that AmazonMP3, which stands to gain the most from an iTunes shutout, does not have an exclusive on the downloadable album.