Next week, when Starbucks launches a service that will let customers buy music from Apple's iTunes Store over a wireless connection, the coffee company expects to mark the occasion by giving millions of songs away.

Starting next Monday, October 2nd, and running through November 7th, Starbucks plans to offer its customers "Song of the Day" cards that can be redeemed through the end of the year at Apple's iTunes Store for a specifically chosen song.

Starbucks told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that it will give away about 50 million songs over the course of the month-long promotion, which will take place at some 10,000 Starbucks stores across the U.S.

Earlier this month, Starbucks said that its iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store would debut in New York and Seattle on October 2nd, followed by 350 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area on November 7th, 500 Starbucks stores in Los Angeles in February, 2008, and 300 in Chicago in March, 2008, with additional locations around the U.S. to follow.

The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store is a service that provides users of Apple's iPhone, its new iPod Touch, or any wireless-capable laptop loaded with the Apple's iTunes software, with the ability to purchase songs through the online iTunes Store over a free wireless connection.

Starbucks also provides fee-based wireless Internet access through its T-Mobile hotspot Wi-Fi network.

When Starbucks announced its music sales partnership with Apple in early September, Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks, said, "Introducing this new service is a natural extension of our music strategy which only enhances the retail coffee experience for customers by helping them discover and acquire new music instantly."

In March, Starbucks and Concord Music Group formed a new music label, Hear Music, to distribute music through Starbucks stores in addition to traditional music outlets.