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I'm not saying that CDs will ever be inaccessible to the motivated technologist. But the media will continue to degrade and disappear at an even faster rate with optical drives no longer commonplace.

And while I'm sure that Apple buyers were among the first demographic to ditch physical media, this development is certainly another nail in the coffin of the brick-and-mortar data archives that are record stores.

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"... this development is certainly another nail in the coffin of the brick-and-mortar data archives that are record stores."

The lack of an optical drive on Apple laptops will not be the stake to the heart of the brick-and-mortar music store; lack of consumer interest will.

The social music scene is moving online. Services like Last.fm, Pandora, and user "created" content sites like SoundCloud are the future. The nostalgia of standing around a music store is nice to think about, but not particularly profitable for the owner.

You are funny. Motivated technologist, eh? A completely clueless friend of mine bought an external optical drive together with her netbook. There is nothing hard about it.

CDs will certainly disappear – and good riddance to them.

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