Put It Away: iPods Are So Yesterday

Soon iPods will seem as outdated as Walkmans—the only question is whether iTunes goes out the door with them, Kevin Maney writes in Portfolio. Consider how old-fashioned the iPod already is: You pay for downloads, fill up a hard drive with them, and cart them around, "like keeping a cow so you can eat your favorite cheese." Now consider the alternative.

"The cloud" is tech terminology for anywhere on the Internet that provides good content. That's where ahead-of-their-time players like Microsoft's Zune and Nokia's Comes With Music will access tunes you want for a monthly subscription. Apple, which commands 72% of the music-player market, hasn't caught on yet. But "tech superstars inevitably fall," Maney writes. "Remember when AOL was king of the internet?" (More iPod stories.)