Apple and Starbucks Make Mobile Music Shopping Deal

Sip. Buy. Repeat. That’s the mantra coming from Apple, whose latest deal with gourmet coffee giant Starbucks, involves moving the purchasing process of musical content to the grande, non-fat, no-whip, mocha point-of-sale.

Here’s the idea: Say you’re standing in line at Starbucks and you hear a really great song you haven’t heard for years. You start humming along, tapping your toes to the beat. Now, the tune is stuck in your head. You have to have it. Now! With the tap of your index finger on the iTunes button on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can access the Starbucks music center. There you can find the song that’s playing in-store, see a list of the the last 10 songs played, or browse the featured Starbucks music collections. Using the store’s Wi-Fi network, you can preview, buy, and download music from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.

Of course, the service also works from your laptop. Just log in and search through the Starbucks collection and make your purchase through iTunes (Windows/Macintosh).

The Wi-Fi Music Store will first roll-out in New York and Seattle (October 2, 2007), then make its way to stores in San Francisco (November 7, 2007), Los Angeles (February) and Chicago (March 2008), with all stores expected to have access by Q4 2008.