Apple and Starbucks today announced the availability of the Starbucks Hear Music catalog on the iTunes Music Store, allowing iTunes users to preview, purchase, and download a variety of Starbucks popular Hear Music titles. Hear Music produces a wide range of albums showcasing new and classic artists including the well-known Artist Choice series, Opus Collections, Debut Series releases by emerging artists, as well as new works from major artists. Starbucks Hear Music offerings will be available in a special new Starbucks Entertainment area within the iTunes Music Store, and will include a wide variety of popular content as well as playlists created specifically for iTunes.

"We're excited to work with iTunes to add a significant new digital experience to the innovative buying experience we've been offering in Starbucks locations for more than 10 years," said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment. "Many of our customers want to listen to our music on their iPods, and now that will be easier than ever."

The Starbucks Entertainment area within iTunes will feature playlists with unique music hand-picked by the same Starbucks Hear Music content team responsible for selecting the music played in Starbucks stores around the world. Playlists and content will be updated frequently and will also include digital versions of many of Hear Music's popular CD series and co-releases such as the Marvin Gaye Opus Collection and Sonya Kitchell's Words Came Back to Me, which was released as part of Starbucks ongoing Hear Music Debut CD series. Customers can purchase either the entire playlist or individual tracks from the Starbucks Hear Music playlists.

"Millions of people enjoy the great music featured at Starbucks locations worldwide, and ask us for it by name," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "Starbucks Hear Music has been a hit with music fans and we're thrilled to add a Starbucks area to iTunes with all this great music online for the first time."

Apple also announced that the iTunes Music Store features 3.5 million songs, 65,000 podcasts, 20,000 audiobooks, over 5,000 music videos, and 220 television shows.