Here’s how I think Apple can boost music sales and satisfy consumers like me. If you have an iPod or iPhone, it’s most likely synched to your home computer or laptop, which you don’t typically carry with you to work. So if you’re on your lunch break browsing cd’s at some store, how can you get music on your iPod? If you have and iPhone or iPod touch, you could probably find a wi-fi connection and purchase through the iTunes app. Or you could buy the cd, rip it to your work computer, and play the crap out of it so you don’t really need it on your iPod for the ride home. Or finally, you could just wait til you get home and buy though iTunes or rip your cd you purchased earlier and transfer it over. Unfortunately these options don’t appeal to me. I’m the type of music consumer that will buy music on a whim and wants to have my recent purchase immediately audibly accessible.

So I think Apple should partner up with retailers to create an in-store buy and synch system. Partnering up with music vendors, Apple can give consumers the option of buying digital music in-store and immediately synching to their iPod or iPhone. They could do this through user-initiated kiosks, like Virgin’s listening stations or display cards next to cd’s. Where someone could bring the card to the register, and the employee would transfer the music to their device.

For this to work, the following would need to be addressed:

• Fast transaction software, because no one wants to wait in line
• Virus protection, so neither a user’s device, nor the store’s system or kiosk would be infected
• Be able to bypass Apple’s one computer/one device synch settings
• An online account to document your purchase history, with the option to re-download if necessary
• Employee training, if synching is done at the register

Besides convenience for myself, I have a couple other arguments in support of this idea.

1. It’s Greener. Digital purchases mean less need for physical cd’s, which mean less long-term waste.
2. It would create additional revenue for offline businesses. I buy a lot digitally online, through Amazon or iTunes. But I will also purchase at stores such as Best Buy or Virgin if I happen to be there. I’m sure that sales of physical cd’s have dipped since the creation of online music stores, so this would be a way that stores can also capitalize on this trend.

There you have it, simple as that. Apple, make it happen.