USA Today has a look at Borders' first of 14 concept stores set to open in 2008. The stores have digital centers where customers can download music and books, research family histories and print photos. The first opened in Ann Arbor; 13 other stores are set to open in ten states.

At the Borders concept store, new themed book islands are built around lifestyle genres, including travel, cooking and health. The digital centers, meantime, are geared to welcome people of all levels of tech know-how. Staffers will guide customers through the process of burning music to CDs, downloading songs to most digital music players (except iPods, which, for now, work only with Apple software) or books to a Sony digital reader.

The hubs' incompatibility with iPods is the obvious roadblock here. I have to wonder how much demand exists for CD burning. I can't imagine using somebody else's computer to download music. Would I go elsewhere to use a computer to buy concert tickets or book a flight? No, and I wouldn't use Borders' computer to get music I can get at home. There are too many steps to get it from point A (Borders) to point B (my hard drive).

The kiosk (or hub) idea has struck out a few times. Not that I hang out in f.y.e. stores a lot, but I've never seen anybody within ten feet of the mix-and-burn digital kiosks in the two stores I have frequented in the last year, and Trans World has stopped mentioning their tests in conference calls (which leads me to believe they're not successful). Starbucks gave the mix-and-burn thing a shot and ditched the program after two years of testing. Turns out download cards are far more popular there.

HMV is testing similar digital hubs at a few stores in England. Time will tell if somebody can figure out a way to make the kiosk work.