iTunes Wi-Fi store launches in Bay Area

Apple and Starbucks this week launched the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at around 360 Starbucks coffee shops in the California Bay Area. Starbucks customers can wirelessly connect for free with iTunes to shop for music as part of the plan announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during a special event in San Francisco on September 5th. The Bay Area launch includes stores spanning from Santa Rosa to Gilroy, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and Apple's vice president of iTunes Eddie Cue eluded to broad coverage with very few Starbucks stores lacking the service.

Starbucks in late September unveiled an iTunes song promotion giving away more than 50 million free tracks to help promote the new "Now Playing" service that began rolling out earlier this week. The deal between Apple and Starbucks will cater to 600 locations across the U.S. when all is said and done, and Starbucks offered its "Song of the Day" for free each day across its 10,000 Starbucks locations up until November 7th when the promotion finally ended.

The "Now Playing" feature allows customers using the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at Starbucks locations to instantly preview, buy, and download the music currently playing over the sound system. Starbucks is also offering the Starbucks Card Plus Two, a limited edition re-loadable Starbucks card with added bonus value. When a Starbucks Card Plus Two is registered online the cardholder will receive two complimentary song downloads of their choice on the U.S. iTunes Store.

Filed under: industry
Other story tags: digital music/video