I also had a Minidisc player, which I used for a year between a Rio 600 and an iPod 5GB. The analogy between a merging traffic jam and progress is interesting,

I also had a Minidisc player, which I used for a year between a Rio 600 and an iPod 5GB. The analogy between a merging traffic jam and progress is interesting, and I agree with the conclusion that the iPhone has made all mobile devices become quite similar. It's been a decade of images (touchscreens, cameras) not sound. Musicians succeed on YouTube (TV) because they're pretty, not because their music is good. The iPod (and radio) were great for "ugly" or shy musicians. What's the next innovation in audio? I think it's directional speakers. Imagine lying in bed and listening to music without headphones, but not disturbing others. Drivers could be getting notifications (turn right in 600 metres) without interrupting conversation. Musicians could have a monitoring speaker that doesn't interfere with their pickups. Sirens could be pointed at a particular driver to ask them to pull over. Zoom calls could be held without headphones, yet still with some privacy. Adverts could be directed only to people standing in front of a billboard. Louder areas of a concert/church could use directional loudspeakers to help hard-of-hearing listeners. Noise cancelling might even be possible, with an omnidirectional microphone listening to someone snoring, but a directional loudspeaker cancelling that for one lucky person. Although they've got lots of applications, I don't know whether directional loudspeakers are the next innovation for audio. But I do think that music will fuel the rise of the next tech leader, just like the iPod built Apple, and the Walkman built Sony.