In brief: Coinstar and iTunes make 'cents'
April 11, 2006Coinstar will offer iTunes users the chance to turn in loose change for online music downloads.
The branded coin counting company with more than 12,000 machines in service, will allow coin hoarders to exchange their coins for an iTunes gift card or eCertificate, wavering the 8.9 percent processing fee via its Coin to Card program.
The program started last year provides gift cards and eCertificates for major retail providers including Borders, Amazon, Starbucks, Virgin Digital, and Hollywood Videos, among others in lieu of cash.
"It's a great way to get in touch with the population especially teens and kids as the growth of digital music increases," said Alex Camara, senior vice president and general manager of the worldwide coin business.
According to Camara, there is an estimated $99 in loose change per each household, which means 99 songs could be downloaded.
Moreover, a whooping $10.5 billion of spare change is sitting across the nation, which means 10 billion iTunes downloads and could nearly fill 44 million 1GB iPod Shuffles.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
