While armchair rockers eagerly await this fall's showdown between Rock Band and Guitar Hero, Activision has released a series of song compilations now available from the iTunes Store featuring music from all four Guitar Hero games, including Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. The so -called "Guitar Hero Essentials" collection is made up of more than 1300 different tracks, including "nearly every song" from the rhythm game franchise, making us curious as to just what songs didn't make the cut.

In addition, unlike the lion's share of the covers featured in earlier released Guitar Hero titles, these songs are the original artist master recordings from bands such as Pearl Jam, Aerosmith, Rage Against the Machine, and Metallica. Also included in the set are also guitar-themed playlists from Steve Jones and Slash, no doubt ideal for those who cannot get enough of living life vicariously through their favorite guitar virtuosos.

However, before you jump off the deep end and begin offering money to the iTunes gods for downloading rights, Activision notes that while some songs from the Guitar Hero series represent newly re-recorded master recordings, these appear to not be included in this collection, making this less an "essential" compilation of Guitar Hero tracks, and more just an assembly of rocking tunes. Not that there is anything wrong with that.