The collaboration between Apple and Starbucks to bring the music being played in Starbucks to iTunes users on the fly has begun in earnest in Seattle and New York where the sweetness is not only in the whipped cream atop your hot coffee, but also now in your hand with a free iTunes download card handed out at the register.

Selected artists are featured every day and the card entitles the holder to a free downloaded song by that artist. This is a pretty brilliant way to get the Starbucks iTunes collaboration into the minds of the the Starbucks customers.

Additionally many Starbucks are also featuring a large flat panel display which shows the currently playing track and reminding them of the iTunes service.

The seamless nature of the blend of iTunes and lattes is another genius move and I'm looking forward to both my next java and my next tune once the service rolls out to my area of the country.

If you live in New York or Seattle and have personally used the service we'd love to hear your comments on the service. Is it over the top, in your face and obnoxious or is it blended tastefully like your cappuccino?

Labels: free music download, iTunes, Starbucks

Apple announced yesterday that the 4GB iPhone will be phased out and the 8GB model will see a price drop of $200 bringing the device to the four hundred dollar range. For early adopters of the iPhone this may be a bit hard to swallow and possibly encourage these same people from being eager to rush out and buy new Apple devices in the future.

There have been many folks who spoke in doomsday tones about the move Apple was making to get into the cellular phone market, but the price cut is akin to the moves made by cell phone manufacturers across the spectrum. That is, release a new phone and slash its' price within a year. This runs counter to the typical Apple method of cutting prices on products only after a couple iterations of the device, but it seems a shrewd decision by Apple in time for the holidays to gain wider acceptance of the device.

The iPhone will be issued a software update that introduces the iTunes Wi-Fi Store. Using the Wi-Fi ability of the iPhone you can now wirelessly buy tunes direct from your iPhone and synch them with iTunes when you get home. But where to use this new service? Try Starbucks. Apple and Starbucks are rolling out a special service (complete with a bottom row button on the iPhone) that allows you to see what the last ten songs played at a Starbucks location were and buy them directly via the Wi-Fi iTunes store. Pretty darned cool.

What to do with those tunes? How about make a ringtone. For an additional 99 cents you can now create a ringtone on your iPhone with many of the songs in your iTunes library. iTunes now has a new tool to enable you to select a portion of a song (up to thirty seconds long) and create your own custom ringtone.

So a price drop, Starbucks partnership, Wi-Fi iTunes store and dropping the low end phone model. Big news. Just in time for the holiday season ....

Labels: iPhone, iTunes, Starbucks, Wi-Fi