No Rock And Roll Fun

DO YOU WANT 'DO FRIES GO WITH THAT SHAKE' TO GO WITH THAT SHAKE?: Last week, it was Starbucks adding digital music to their slightly overpriced coffe menu. This week, McDonalds is hooking up with Sony for the launch of Connect. The LA Times reckons that Ronald had been plotting a tie-up with Apple but switched horses at the last minute following a polite cough from Sony. You can see why Sony need the bulk of McD's customers - it's backing a non-compatable format in a bid to try and flog its new Walkmen range, and flinging the songs at people for nothing is probably the only way they'll be able to gain enough of a sales base.

Only problem is, of course, it's by no means guaranteed that people will bother to take their little codes from the cups or whatever and tap them in online - Apple and Pepsi's controversial iTunes promo stalled because nowhere near as many people kept hold of the magic winning bottle caps to convert them into songs; the Sony/McDonalds tie-together is banking on enough people holding on to what is, in effect, garbage, and carrying it around until they get to a computer - that's apart from the few brave souls with wifi connectivity who risk their Vaios in a grease-besmirched, ketchup-strewn child-raddled outlet like McD's.