Starbucks Tunes In to Digital Music

Here's a deal: Sip on a mocha latte while using headphones to listen to any of 250,000 songs you call up on a computer. Then order the ones you like -- burned on your own CD -- to go. Who's the dealer? Starbucks (SBUX ).

BusinessWeek has learned that on Mar. 16, the Seattle coffee giant will unveil an in-store music service allowing customers to do just that, using Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ) tablet computers to make their choices. The first musical Starbucks opens in Santa Monica, Calif., and the service will expand into 2,500 stores over the next two years. "This is not a test," says Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. "We're going for it.'' [BusinessWeek]

Apparently, although this deal involves HP, and HP has a deal with Apple involving the iPod, the Starbucks store is not based on iTunes.