Back in XM Radio's good-ole-days Starbucks actually ran a pretty nice eclectic station dubbed "Hear Music" on channel 75.  The playlist had jazz, world music, new age and of course typical "coffee shop music".  The channel no longer exists (neither does XM really) and what I hear in Starbucks stores from "Hear Music" its pretty much coffee house themed Muzak which probably loops every hour.

Back in XM Radio's good-ole-days Starbucks actually ran a pretty nice eclectic station dubbed "Hear Music" on channel 75.  The playlist had jazz, world music, new age and of course typical "coffee shop music".  The channel no longer exists (neither does XM really) and what I hear in Starbucks stores from "Hear Music" its pretty much coffee house themed Muzak which probably loops every hour.

I wear many hats and when I wear my programming hat, I hang out in coffee houses. If there's no independent coffee house with no decent internet around, I often find myself at Starbucks, where I am subjected to their in-house radio station, which I think is called fear music or something. It's good for about half an hour, sometimes, if you go to Starbucks once a week. But, if you hang at Starbucks for more than an hour or two, fear music's relentlessly bland, risk-free merchandising disguised as programming will warp your spine, cause spontaneous hearing loss, and leave you ill-tempered and unable to make love for days. It's the aural equivalent of their soul-jacked push-button espresso. And so, Howard Schultz, I implore you to do the right thing and bring some soul back to Starbucks: shutter fear music, place all of the staff on a raft not unlike the raft of the medusa as painted by Géricault, and turn the programming over to Radio Paradise. That is all.

Burnt. Ick.

I love a dark roast. I really do. Just not burnt.

I used to live in France, right? So after I got the wondrous thing that is called TEH INTERNETS when I bought my first computer back in 2000, I was able to keep closer tabs on American culture. I kept reading about Starbucks. During my first Christmas trip to the US in five years, in 2004, I had a layover in Toronto or Detroit or something. There was a Starbucks there. I ordered a coffee, took my first sip a couple of minutes later, and thought "This is supposed to be good coffee? Pleh."

I still don't like Starbucks (oh, it'll do in a pinch), but give me the stuff we brew at home or the stuff we can buy at the local coffee shops. The soundtrack is better too.

I have never cared for the Charbux roasts.

Burnt. Ick.

I love a dark roast. I really do. Just not burnt.

Bitter, right?

I have never cared for the Charbux roasts.

I have never cared for the Charbux roasts.

I find myself avoiding Starbucks at all costs. For a variety of reasons, this one included.

I wear many hats and when I wear my programming hat, I hang out in coffee houses. If there's no independent coffee house with no decent internet around, I often find myself at Starbucks, where I am subjected to their in-house radio station, which I think is called fear music or something. It's good for about half an hour, sometimes, if you go to Starbucks once a week. But, if you hang at Starbucks for more than an hour or two, fear music's relentlessly bland, risk-free merchandising disguised as programming will warp your spine, cause spontaneous hearing loss, and leave you ill-tempered and unable to make love for days. It's the aural equivalent of their soul-jacked push-button espresso. And so, Howard Schultz, I implore you to do the right thing and bring some soul back to Starbucks: shutter fear music, place all of the staff on a raft not unlike the raft of the medusa as painted by Géricault, and turn the programming over to Radio Paradise. That is all.

Jacked up starbucks peeps.employees scare me. I buy chock full of nuts and my guy has a French press.

AND my itunes is playing...

Jacked up starbucks peeps.employees scare me. I buy chock full of nuts and my guy has a french press. AND my itunes is playing...