In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the 45 rpm-vinyl single disc, Rhino is offering digital downloads of songs originally issued as 45s together with their original “B” sides, with 31 songs making their digital debut. iTunes will have 60 digital singles available, among them six exclusive never-released “B” sides, and offer the original artwork as a downloadable PDF file, when available. Rhino expects to issue 25 digital singles a month.

The Eagles’ original single Hotel California / Pretty Maids All in a Row is among the first bundles to go virtual. Incidentally for Eagles fans, there’s a second digital offering: Take it Easy / Get You in the Mood happens to be one of the six exclusives with the rare “B” side not available on any album.

Browse the complete list at Rhino. Each single links directly to iTunes.

* A Visit to the Hotel California

Last week (5/21), the German cultural radio station Deutchlandfunk broadcast a feature dealing with the myth surrounding the origin of the song Hotel California. It’s an interesting report about an actual “Hotel California” in Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico, reputed to be “the” hotel which inspired the Eagles’ greatest hit.

Today, not only the hotel, but other merchants in the area as well still cash in on the tales of a connection between the band and the hotel. The story features several references to Don’s book, underscoring the spirit behind the rock and roll folklore which even today continues drawing tourists to Todos Santos from north of the border.

There’s a transcription of the program along with the audio file in German (of course!) available on the Deutschlandfunk site. For an online translation into English, click here.

The Eagles’ million-selling Hotel California album will be re-released on 180-gram vinyl on October 21.

We know what it means to be held hostage by progress. We bought the original over thirty years ago. We got a second one on 8-track (remember those?) to listen to in our car in 1978. Then we had to have it as a music cassette to play on the brand new Walk-Man back in the day. Of course, we upgraded it to a CD when they came out around 1986. And who’s without it in mp3 format today?

So it’s back to square one, because you can check out any format you want, but you can never leave.