Music Kiosks

Have you used any music kiosks yet?

"A digital music 'vending machine' of sorts, music kiosks allow you to browse, buy and download tracks from an Internet-connected unit that you can then either burn to a CD or transfer to an MP3 player. " - Antony Bruno

New versions support Bluetooth technology, which would enable buyers to transfer content wirelessly from the kiosk to certain mobile phones."

Cool idea, but there's still some drawbacks. Only unprotected MP3s and tracks bought from the iTunes Music Store can play on the iPod. The tracks sold by kiosks are protected with Microsoft Windows technology, and thus are unable to be transferred to the market-leading iPod.

Starbucks' Hear Music initiative has placed CD-burning kiosks inside 40 coffeshops in five cities nationwide, charging customers $8.99 to burn a custom-mixed CD of seven songs, and 99 cents for additional tracks. Starbucks' kiosks do not yet support portable music players, but they recently bulked up its available music catalog to 1 million tracks from 150,000.
MusicLand has made kiosks a central feature of its new Graze Music in-store environment.

Kiosk providers claim the digital music revolution has created an opportunity for what they are marketing as a music store in a box. The idea is to place music kiosks in well-trafficked areas where people generally have 10-15 minutes of time to kill -- such as airports, coffehouses, university student unions, truck stops, even convenience stores. Anyone willing to pay around $10,000 per unit can place a kiosk on their property and start competing for record-store business.

MediaPort says three Fortune 500 companies are testing its MediaATM now and expects a 1,500-unit rollout with an as-yet-unnamed nationwide convenience store chain.

Related Tags: music, music kiosks, Bluetooth, iPod, Starbucks, MusicLand, digital music, MediaPort, MediaATM