Starbucks, iTunes team for in-coffeehouse downloads

Nation's Restaurant News, May 5, 2008

SEATTLE -- Starbucks Coffee will offer free downloads of music and videos weekly through a new program with iTunes at the chain's 7,100 U.S. coffeehouses, officials said.

The Pick of the Week program would enable the downloads via cards redeemable at the online iTunes Store for a complimentary song or music video picked by the Starbucks Entertainment team and iTunes.

Last year, Starbucks and iTunes conducted a Song of the Day program with free downloads for one month. More than 6 million songs were downloaded.

The Now Playing feature allows customers to preview, buy and do real-time downloads of music playing in the Starbucks locations via Wi-Fi connections to their laptops and portable devices. A national rollout of the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store service is planned.