Starbucks execs also tout this as an opportunity to introduce people to new and more obscure music and artists. At the very least, being able to listen or buy music in a Starbucks café will enhance the company's core business and keep customers coming back. "The time it takes you to order a latte, you could have any CD burned on demand for you,'' says Don MacKinnon, vice-president for music and entertainment for Starbucks. "That's truly transformative and unlocks for so many people a need that's not being served — making it easier to learn about music, easier to get it, and easier to create your own compilations.''

....MacKinnon believes people want a place they trust to help them discover and choose new music. With partner Hewlett-Packard supplying the high-powered CD burners, the special printers for the CD covers, the tablet PCs, the digital storage, and the army of servers, Starbucks figures it is taking the best of the digital world into the coffee shop. Says MacKinnon: "This is training wheels for digital.''

Music execs love the idea. "They are creating another way to recommend music to people and target a specific music buyer, bridging the gap between the digital and the physical,'' says Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Universal Music Group's Interscope, Geffen, and A&M labels. "Starbucks isn't just adding music to their stores. They're adding culture to the stores. They're enhancing the customer experience.'' [BusinessWeek] Although I think the prices too high (as always), I think the concept is brilliant and with Starbucks already drawing a huge number of customers everyday, this is a way to provide them with another "lifestyle" element to their store experience - sampling (key) and purchasing music, and a way for Starbucks to increase their revenue-per-customer ratio significantly. And it fills in the space between digital downloads and CDs. Very interesting.