[meyer]

You hear a song you like, you plug in your iPod, go to the iTunes store or whatever the Zune equivalent is and that song is yours ten seconds later.

Only to be lost when you iPod dies, or your hard drive fails. CD's are nearly permanent, and you can easily catalog them. They are independent of the device on which you play your music. Play them in the car, on the music system, anywhere. You own them, and you can do with them as you wish. They can be copied and used on other devices such as iPod or MP3 players.

[norge]

You hear a song you like, you plug in your iPod, go to the iTunes store or whatever the Zune equivalent is and that song is yours ten seconds later.

Only to be lost when you iPod dies, or your hard drive fails. CD's are nearly permanent, and you can easily catalog them. They are independent of the device on which you play your music. Play them in the car, on the music system, anywhere. You own them, and you can do with them as you wish. They can be copied and used on other devices such as iPod or MP3 players.

All that seems to be true, but one of the most puzzling things to me was the lack of interest in the Mini-disk, as opposed to the CD.

The Mini is smaller, protected from scratches, and is completely editable, from deleting to adding to manipulating content. And they were pratically indestructible.

Alas, too late now, their time has passed.