despite the fact that we're constantly told physical sales are a dead duck, this might be only the case where the, um, younger folk are concerned.

Assuming that remixed, or rather remastered, versions of the Beatles catalogue are made available for download, it'd be only right that they'd also be available in a physical format. Consider also that Neil Aspinals replacement at Apple Corps was some jonny from Colulmbia who specialised in repackaging and so forth and it's quite quite likely that we're looking at glossy new re-issues in the shops. Whether they'll go with bonus tracks/outtakes etc to persuade us further is anybodys guess, especially given Macca/George Martin (and possibly Ringo even) saying that there's nothing of note left unreleased and that they really would be scraping the bottom of the Barrell.

To go the nub of your own point; I think i'd be more likely to shell out for a new CD of, say, Abbey Road with added bells and whistles and (hopefully) additional artwork rather than chuck a tenner at iTunes for merely the digital version in a lossy format.

Come and get it...Did I hear you say that there must be a catch? Will you walk away from a fool and his money? Some lyrics have really come to haunt Macca haven't they?

I suspect the biggest sellers might be the singles and b sides that aren't on albums (as collected on the Past Masters Vols 1 and 2 CDs). And the well-loved album tracks that aren't on One: things like 8 Days A Week, All My Loving, Back In The USSR etc. Lots of Beatles songs are really well known, to the point of being boringly over-familiar. But lots aren't, particularly on the earlier, less talked-about and critically-revered albums and singles. I sort of envy people who will be hearing Yes It Is for the first time. (Rain, incidentally, is the one to play for anyone who dares suggest Ringo Starr was just making up the numbers.)
Dark horses for download rediscovery: I Call Your Name and Bad Boy. Best avoided: Matchbox.

That's what the Import CD button is for.

Besides, it's a pretty painful thought listening so some Beatles records in iPod buds... Rhythm section and lead vocals in one ear silence in the other until suddenly the spare ear gets blasted with backing vocal and tamborine for 20 seconds and then silence again.

I was maintaining to a friend a while back that those early/mid-period Beatles recordings aren't so much in "Stereo" as we now think of it as in two track mono - there IS a difference if you think about it. A spectrum of placed sounds vs two different mono tracks playing alongside each other at the same time.

...while on holiday a while back my wife and I were having a cuppa in a little teashop. The owners, rather than splash out and properly wire up speakers in the front and back rooms had clearly bought a cheap hi-fi, put it behind the till and run one speaker out front and another one out back. TWo speakers... two rooms... Genius!

Well, fine for a lot of records - maybe even most - but then something from mid-era Beatles came on. Sitting in the back room it was hilarious to watch the looks on customers' faces when out of silence suddenly 15 seconds of tambourine and Fender Rhodes started blaring out of the speaker before fading back to silence for 20 seconds only to be replaced by some oohs and a cow bell for another 15 seconds... and so it went on...