Albertsons is First National Partner to Roll-Out Coinstar Prepaid Products.

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Coinstar Inc. (Nasdaq:CSTR), the leader in self-service coin counting and supplier of e-payment products, today announced that Albertsons Inc. (NYSE:ABS), one of the company's largest retail partners, is rolling out Coinstar's e-payment products and services in over 1,800 grocery and drug store locations in the United States.

"We couldn't be more delighted that Albertsons is our first national partner to adopt our e-payment product line in its grocery and drug store locations," said Rich Stillman, President of Coinstar Inc.

"E-payment services are consistent with our brand promise to help make life easier for our customers," stated Pam Powell, Albertsons Senior Vice President of Customer Service. "Coinstar's products provide consumers with a convenient, self-service solution for purchasing and reloading popular prepaid products."

Coinstar(R) Centers with self-service coin counting are currently installed in more than 1,650 Albertsons supermarkets and more than 150 drug store locations. By the end of this year, Coinstar expects all 1,800 installed Albertsons locations to be equipped with Coinstar's e-payment services, including prepaid wireless airtime and Green Dot(TM) Prepaid MasterCard(R) cards.

E-Payment Product Offerings

Green Dot(TM) Prepaid MasterCard(R) Card:

This stored-value card may be purchased at the Coinstar Center and loaded with dollar amounts from $20 to $500. Once ordered through the Coinstar Center, the personalized, embossed Green Dot(TM) Prepaid MasterCard(R) card is sent to the purchaser's home and is good anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Consumers can also easily replenish the value on their card during future visits to the Coinstar Center.

Prepaid Wireless Airtime:

Consumers with prepaid wireless accounts can use the Coinstar Center to replenish airtime minutes with most of the national carriers including ALLTEL, AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile, TracFone, and Verizon.

Albertsons is one of the world's largest food and drug retailers, with annual revenues of approximately $36 billion. Based in Boise, Idaho, Albertsons operates approximately 2,300 retail stores in 31 states across the United States, including the banners Albertsons, Jewel-Osco, Acme, Albertsons-Osco, Albertsons-Save-On, Save-on Drugs, Osco Drug and Super Saver.

About Coinstar Inc.

Coinstar Inc. (Nasdaq:CSTR), founded in 1991, pioneered self-service coin counting to provide consumers a convenient and innovative means to convert loose coins into cash. Today, Coinstar Inc. is a multi-national company offering a range of products consisting of coin counting, electronic payment solutions, and amusement vending at more than 40,000 retail locations including supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, truck stops and restaurants. American Coin Merchandising Inc. and Cell Cards of Illinois, L.L.C., operate as wholly-owned subsidiaries of Coinstar Inc. For more information visit www.coinstar.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to the expansion and growth of Coinstar, Inc.'s business that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "goals," variations of such words, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, but their absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary significantly from the results expressed or implied in such statements. Differences may result from actions taken by Coinstar, Inc., as well as from risks and uncertainties beyond Coinstar, Inc.'s control. Actual results may vary significantly from the results expressed or implied in such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, interruption or delay in manufacturing or installing machines or new technology at Albertsons, continuation of Coinstar's relationships with service providers, additional potential competitors, and uncertainties relating to the ultimate success of new business initiatives. The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. For more information on factors that may affect future performance, please review the most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Coinstar, Inc. These forward-looking statements reflect Coinstar, Inc.'s expectations as of July 29, 2004. Coinstar, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update the information provided herein.

Coinstar is a registered trademark of Coinstar, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.