HP and Starbucks offer digital music service

Hewlett-Packard and Starbucks tomorrow launch an in-store service that lets Starbucks customers create customised CDs with songs chosen from a digital music library.

Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and HP chairman and chief executive officer Carly Fiorina will give a joint press conference on Tuesday at the Hear Music Coffeehouse in Santa Monica, California.

The service will let Starbucks patrons call up and listen to songs on HP PCs located in the stores and order personalised CDs with songs they choose. There will be about 250,000 songs to choose from, and the service will be available in about 2,500 Starbucks stores in two years.

HP will also supply Starbucks with other necessary equipment for providing the service, such as CD burners and printers for the stores and backend servers.

Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service