My experience from today..I walked into a SBUX and heard a cool song. Here is what followed :

- get in line

- took out ipod, connected to “tmobile”
- went to itunes. “Cannot connect to itunes store”

- ordered drink

- went to itunes again. “Cannot connect to itunes store”

- got drink, walked to cream table
- checked safari to see if I had to pay. loading starbucks/tmobile portal page ...

- put cream in coffee. song almost over.

- still loading page…

- standing there at cream table staring at iphone

- song ended.

- still loading page..

- walked out of store.
——

first, isn’t wifi free for itunes inside sbux? if not, nobody will use it. second, shouldn’t the store homepage load quicky? overall, was bad experience. am I missing something?

I don’t think it has been rolled out much yet. I believe it is currently only available in Seattle and New York.

New York—Available Now
Seattle —Available Now
San Francisco Bay Area—Available Now

Los Angeles—February 2008
Chicago—March 2008

Most other metropolitan areas—By end of 2008

Most other metropolitan areas—By end of 2008

I guess podunk junction will get it in 2010 . . . . .

[quote author=“coma”]

Most other metropolitan areas—By end of 2008

I guess podunk junction will get it in 2010 . . . . .

2009. It will arrive quickly.

Not Quite

I haven’t seen anyone who has used it successfully in the SF Bay Area (based on random encounters with people having an iPhone in Starbucks).  I’m not sure that it’s here yet. Perhaps someone can confirm?

Re: Not Quite

[quote author=“information”]I haven’t seen anyone who has used it successfully in the SF Bay Area (based on random encounters with people having an iPhone in Starbucks).  I’m not sure that it’s here yet. Perhaps someone can confirm?

I don’t live in SF, but try this:

Click here, then scroll down

Re: Not Quite

[quote author=“lumi”][quote author=“information”]I haven’t seen anyone who has used it successfully in the SF Bay Area (based on random encounters with people having an iPhone in Starbucks).  I’m not sure that it’s here yet. Perhaps someone can confirm?

I don’t live in SF, but try this:

Click here, then scroll down

     
It looks like they will be awhile getting to Annapolis. 

. . . . guess I won’t hold my breath.

Re: Not Quite

[quote author=“lumi”][quote author=“information”]I haven’t seen anyone who has used it successfully in the SF Bay Area (based on random encounters with people having an iPhone in Starbucks).  I’m not sure that it’s here yet. Perhaps someone can confirm?

I don’t live in SF, but try this:

Click here, then scroll down

Yes, this is what is out there but I haven’t seen it actually working on the iphone yet.  Thanks.

I was around the San Francisco Bay area over the weekend and went trolling for some Starbucks .  The first place was a flop, no store available, although there was a rack of virtual albums available (plastic cards with a redemption code for particular bundled content from iTunes.)  The store people thought they had to reset something to get it working again, but I moved on.

I sat in the parking lot of two more Starbucks in the East Bay (Alameda, just south of Oakland), and was able to access the current and past playlist.

Finally, I stopped into the Los Gatos shop (fairly close to Cupertino) and ran the software through a serious workout.  There is a delay of up to a minute while the software discovers the T-Mobile hot spot, lets it know there’s an iPhone about, gets an IP address, and enables the Starbucks option.  Sometimes faster.  The currently playing track does get pushed to the iPhone eventually, but the refresh rate is unpredictable.  Single clicking a song brings up the history list, double clicking brings up the song’s album.

They were playing a fairly bright selection of piano jazz with some world and reggae mixed in.  Most of it wasn’t appealing enough for me to buy, but my overriding impression was this: If you have a social venue with Wifi that plays music, this technology stands to make you a barrow-load of money once iPhones / iPod Touches become ubiquitous.  The experience was seamless, amazing, and fun.  Like everything Apple.

[quote author=“DawnTreader”]
2009. It will arrive quickly.

Before Windows 7

The itunes Starbucks partnership is going to be a disaster.  Waste of time ....  I don’t see why Starbucks just doesn’t offer free internet to iPhone owners .... that would be much better ... need to get online ?  go to Starbucks ... get online .. more than likely you’ll buy some overpriced coffee .....  don’t get me wrong ... I buy their overpriced coffee all the time .... but do I really want to download the “Song of the Day” from a artist I’ve never heard of ?  Doubt it .

JMHO

[quote author=“Gtrplyr”]The itunes Starbucks partnership is going to be a disaster.  Waste of time ....  I don’t see why Starbucks just doesn’t offer free internet to iPhone owners .... that would be much better ... need to get online ?  go to Starbucks ... get online .. more than likely you’ll buy some overpriced coffee .....  don’t get me wrong ... I buy their overpriced coffee all the time .... but do I really want to download the “Song of the Day” from a artist I’ve never heard of ?  Doubt it .

JMHO

I agree.  I’d actually go to Starbucks more often, if I could get free wi-fi there.  DH and I have actually made a decision to eat somewhere that offers free wi-fi, rather than somewhere else that doesn’t.  I wish businesses would realize they will make more money than they will spend by offering free wi-fi to customers.

I live in a college town, with many coffee shops offering free Wi-FI. There are two Starbucks downtown, one near the state capital, where Wi-Fi is not free, and one near campus, where the Wi-Fi is free.  College students have more options for free wi-fi on campus , so it might make sense to lure them into the Starbucks by offering it for free. But the students then sit there for hours, nursing one cup of coffee or tea. While the business/government/lawyer community that frequents the other Starbucks doesn’t have time to sit around for hours using the Wi-Fi. From a business perspective, it seems they are the ones who should have it free. Actually, in this town, Starbucks hasn’t a chance of getting Wi-fi users with free wi-fi in every other coffee shop (even bars and restaurants have it now)