With online music stores like Napster and iTunes, we’ve taken more than just a few steps toward the celestial jukebox concept during the past few years. Of course, not all bands and artists have signed off on allowing their music to be sold as so many bits chugging down a fiber optics line. Bands past and present, such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Radiohead, have yet to show up in any of the online music store inventories. Of course, they’ll get there eventually. It’s just a matter of time. And lawyers.

But along with some of the A-list acts whose absence from online stores is most notable, another aspect of the celestial jukebox is to make all those recordings that might appeal only to a niche audience as available as this week’s Top Ten. Only when you can download something as off-beat as “Comanche Flute Music” or “Deep Polka: Dance Music From The Midwest,” will the celestial jukebox come closer to being, well, celestial.

However, the day when you can get anything any time recently became more of a reality with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announcing it had completed a deal with digital distributor The Orchard to bring their massive library to an online store near you.

While Smithsonian Folkways has been doing a brisk mail-order business through its Web site, the label has found it difficult to translate that business to an online, digital download model. That’s because Smithsonian Folkways is the Smithsonian Institute’s own record label, and its nonprofit status has made its own business model a bit difficult to shoehorn into something that can be downloaded for 99 cents a song on iTunes.

But the Smithsonian Folkways deal with The Orchard will change all that. Acting as the middleman, The Orchard will act as Smithsonian Folkways’ exclusive digital distribution partner, allowing the label to remain nonprofit while The Orchard hopes profits will be made.

What does this mean to music lovers? A vast, almost limitless vault of recordings, including spoken word, American folk, jazz and blues. It means Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. It means the recorded musical heritage of the entire world is available via a mouse click and a credit card number.

Of course, you might not find the latest Radiohead CD or The Beatles’ “White Album” on the Smithsonian Folkways imprint. But you will find Paul Robeson, Jelly Roll Morton, even someone as contemporary as Lucinda Williams. And now, thanks to the deal, you’ll find them on your favorite online music store much sooner than you’re likely to find “Stairway To Heaven” on Rhapsody.

“At Smithsonian Folkways, we recognize the important role that digital distribution can play for continued sales growth but more importantly, as a phenomenal new channel to reach music customers and expand the audience for our important catalogue,” Smithsonian Folkways Director Daniel Sheehy said. “We look forward to working with The Orchard to bring this invaluable catalog to the digital marketplace in creative and innovative ways.”