Tech Shout!

On Wednesday, computer-maker Apple and coffee house chain Starbucks unveiled the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at approx. 360 Starbucks coffee outlets in the Bay Area.

With the new exciting initiative, any customer sitting at Starbucks can shop for music wirelessly via the iTunes at the coffee shop. And guess what, you can do all this for no cost at all. Its absolutory free! Being introduced nationwide, the Bay Area launch included stores from Santa Rosa to Gilroy.

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is compatible with the latest iPod Touch, iPhone and Wi-Fi-enabled PCs and Macs using one of the latest versions of iTunes. Once in the shop, users are automatically connected to Starbucks’ wireless Internet network and can see - and buy the song that’s currently playing in the store. Interestingly, each coffee shop is configured individually so that the song playing through the store’s speakers is the same song that appears on the front page of the user’s iTunes. Depending on the speed of the store’s network, on an average it takes around a minute to download a track. What’s more, no song will be heard more than once a day.

Consumers can choose from a wide catalog that includes about 6 million songs, which is available on iTunes. But it is important to note that the service does not extend to iTunes’ collection of podcasts, television shows and movies.

In addition, the free wireless Internet access is only applicable to the iTunes Store. You need to shell out money if you want to access anything else on the internet through Starbucks’ partnership with T-Mobile.

New York and Seattle already has this service, and it is expected to be available in the nation’s 6,000 company-operated Starbucks coffee shops by 2009-end.

Apple and Starbucks have been in talks since around the last three years. And the two coming together has surely made possible the amalgamation of the two best things in life – coffee and music.