Akamai will deliver Starbucks music

Akamai Technologies Inc. of Cambridge and java giant Starbucks Corp. announced a "technology relationship" today that includes the deployment of Akamai servers within Starbucks cafes for providing the wireless delivery of digital music to Starbucks customers.

Akamai, a global service provider for accelerating content and applications online, said it will serve as the exclusive content distribution provider in the United States for the partnership announced last month between Starbucks and Apple Inc.

According to a September story from the AP, that partnership allows users of Apple's iPhone and new iPod Touch to download songs playing in a Starbucks cafe directly to their portable devices; to promote the new wireless iTunes music service, Starbucks plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in its domestic coffee houses.

Akamai said today that its technology will create a "fast and reliable route for the delivery of content from the (Apple) iTunes Store to Starbucks locations."
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)