On Tuesday the iTunes Store has started selling two songs as a package as “Digital 45s.” For those of you too young to remember (I’m too young as well but acting as if I’m not makes me feel more important) 45s were vinyl records with two songs on them. On the A side was a more popular song while the B side contained a lesser known song.

With Digital 45s you purchase a popular song and a lesser known song for a price ranging from $1.49 to $1.99.

From the iTunes Digital 45s page:

The vinyl 45 rpm record once ruled jukeboxes and helped bring artists into the hands of true music fans. It was smaller and cheaper than a full-length, featuring two top-notch tunes for  a great price. iTunes is bringing this concept into a new age with  D45s — two great tracks at an equally great price. Get exclusive songs or grab the latest music from your favorites.

The release marks the 60th anniversary of the original 45rpm vinyl records. The Digital 45s will be sold exclusively in iTunes until July 27 when they will be available on other music stores.

This is a very intelligent concept but I don’t know if it will really take hold with consumers. If you really just want the single would you pay the extra $0.49 or $0.99 to get an extra song that you may or may not like? Or, would you rather just pay the $0.69 to $1.29 to get just the song you know you’ll like? Then again, these questions could soon be irrelevant as the main music buying demographic (teenagers and young adults) move towards streaming or bootlegging instead of buying.