Coffeehouses, Music, and Wi-Fi, Go Hand-in-hand

Thanks to a partnership between Apple and Starbucks, iTunes users can now wirelessly download songs via the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store at participating Starbucks Coffeehouse locations. Any Wi-Fi-enabled device (that can support iTunes) will do—although Apple is, of course, hoping that iPhone and iTouch users will lead the charge.

iPhone users (and eventually, iTouch users) get a handy Starbucks icon, which appears on their device when they enter a T-Mobile Starbucks Hotspot and which is intended to make connection and song transfers easier (not to mention brand Starbucks even further).

Visitors to stores will encounter “Now Playing” video screens on the walls, which display information about the music currently playing over the speakers in the store. This song, along with recently played songs, will be readily accessible to wireless iTunes users in the store.

To promote the new in-store feature, Starbucks is giving away 50 million free songs to customers at all of its 10,000 U.S. locations. From Oct. 2 to Nov. 7, baristas in the ubiquitous coffeehouses will hand out roughly 1.5 million “Song of the Day” cards each day. (Spend five bucks on a Venti Java Chip Frappuccino and you can save a dollar on a song.) The cards can be redeemed at Apple’s iTunes online music store. The in-store music service launched on October 2^nd in 600 Starbucks locations in New York and Seattle and will expand to include San Francisco next month.