Coffee. Smartphone. Music. Easy.

Starbucks Mobile App - tap Messages

Remember times when all guns were pointed at Napster? Music industry was forced to undergo a seismic shift since those days and so did technology. But there were times in the past when technology disappointed with half-baked solutions that only geeks (like me) had patience to deal with. These days mobile technology really makes listening to quality new music cheaper, faster, easier and more productive than even before. Coffee lovers already now know how Starbucks mobile app is a great example of that.  

Apple's iTunes system provides a way to not only buy but also redeem gifts or retrieve content downloadable for free with coupons. To get a piece of free music like that, the most optimistic case scenario would call for the following routine:

1. Drive to one of Starbucks store locations in your area
2. Get the coupon (paper slip with a scratch-off) from a Starbucks Store
3. Connect to WiFi on your iPhone or any other iDevice
4. Open iTunes
5. Dig up a spot where you could redeem your coupon
6. Type in your cryptic coupon code
7. Type it in again because it's borderline impossible to get it right the first time
8. Wait for iTunes reaction. If you survived until this step, please continue to be patient
9. Wait for the download to start
10. Check when the download completes
11. Navigate your Purchased and/or Downloaded section of the music player on your iDevice

Oooph! 11 steps?! There's got to be a better way to see what our trusted brands have to suggest and offer to us. 

The answer to that cry is mobile technology, beautifully integrated and smoothly connected. As +Dirk Talamasca points out, you can do magic with the Starbucks mobile app, but I think...  

... this time technology really makes your life easier

1. Install a free Starbucks app
2. Open it and tap once on Messages
3. Tap once on Pick of the Week
4. Tap Download Now

That's it. As graphics below show, after about a minute, that song gets added to your playlist while you sip your grande Caramel Macchiato. No crashes. No syncing through a USB cable. No typing. No BS. Piece of everyday technology in your hand just:

• connected your coffee shop with your phone
• plugged your phone right into a music store
• provided a piece of latest and trending music to you
• seamlessly added a new song to your playlist
• saved you time, made your life faster, easier and more productive
• saved you money, and you didn't even have to switch to Geico

I bet +Courtney Engle Robertson or +Peg Fitzpatrick would agree when I say "How awesome is that!" That's what technology should be to people - a way to make our lives easier.

Starbucks Mobile App - Tap once on Pick of The Week

Starbucks Mobile App - Tap Download Now

Starbucks Mobile App - Just wait a quick minute

Starbucks Mobile App - Your music is downloading automatically

Starbucks Mobile App - Your music is already added to your playlist

Starbucks Mobile App - 1 minute from opening the app, new cool music is playing on your iDevice or an Android