Well. Honestly? That would be useful if it were in EVERY store EVERYWHERE. I actually discovered the Verve Remixed series after hearing one track played in a Starbucks. I'm just not in there often enough for this to be useful (about once or twice a year).

SYNERGY! It'll be even more impressive when the cashier at the Starbucks calls you by your first name because your iPod told him what it was.

What's hilarious to me about the starbucks button is that everything I read online has people complaining about it BUT it was one of the first reasons my brother loved reading about the new ipod. hahaha. Because he is in starbucks all the time and has purchased those starbucks cds more than a few times.

Thinking forward, that starbucks button can be a starbucks button in starbucks, a hooters button in hooters, a macdonalds button in macdonalds. You could hire out the machines that do the music synching/selling to anyone from party organisers to festivals to bars.

If I had my own coffee shop, I'd love to be able to licence this technology. Or a music store. That'd be awesome to give people the facility to just buy the song that's playing.

It's a great idea, and eventually everyone will benefit.
Firstly, the licensee gets a kickback from Apple for each song sold.
Secondly, the music listener gets to say - "Hey this is a good song, wonder what it's called."
Thirdly, Apple gets to sell more iTouches and iPhones.

The only people who don't benefit are the record companies who will no longer get to control a small number of advertising outlets.

It's opening the door for a situation where you can quickly and simply buy the song you're hearing. Wherever you are. And I sort of like this idea.

i.e. I suspect that Apple will push the licencing of this technology when they've proved it works with the one store (Starbucks)

Will they be able to prove it, though? I have a feeling this venture will not be as profitable as they think.

Huh. I actually kind of like the idea. I mean, I also knee-jerkily want to rail against it because: Starbucks. But hey, it's this sort of stuff that I was envisioning for the distant future (the year 2000)* when I was a kid.

*now almost-compulsory flight of the conchords reference

Wow, I'm glad I don't have an iPod. I use my mp3 player in coffee shops because I don't want to listen to their music, I want to listen to my music. I'm a bit creeped out by giving some store the power to hyjack my own personal technology.
If someone wanted to listen to the piped in music doesn't it stand to reason that they would, oh, I don't know, not be wearing headphones...?

I hear you gaspode. It IS entirely voluntary. You can be at a Starbucks without pushing the button that appears. And Starbucks DOES release some compelling music now and then, and I suspect that some of it plays in the shops (although I never go in them unless I am desperate and there is no other source around for my drug of choice).

But the commercial tie-in just seems a bit over the top. One of my heroes is John Densmore, who is the sole hold-out among the surviving Doors against selling any of their music for commercials. My sentiments about this tie-in sorta have to do with that, in a vague way.

I'll hold out until they release the iPod portable latte maker.

I'm with seanyboy: this is just the first of many such deals.

Is this really any worse than Google feeding you textads that are relevant to the article you're reading or search you're making?

The humans are dead.

seanyboy: you forgot the extra revenue stream Starbucks gets from selling its database of customers, music preferences and buying habits.

me3dia: the problem is not feeding me the ads; the problem is the power entity has by taking in the info from me. I was talking about this with a UI designer friend of mine in SF last weekend. Interesting times, interesting sticky thorny issues.

That said, I almost wish H&M did this. Or at least displayed the info on their screens.