Disc storage days are numbered

If you look around there are some clear signs that the days of data storage on discs may be rather fewer than many of us had previously imagined. I've come to this conclusion after piecing together a few recent news stories and wondering what impact this will have on us as photographers in the long term.

For example Ford has just announced that new cars will not be fitted with a CD player. Instead they will include a USB point for MP3 players and wi-fi connections to access music via the internet. Just now Apple has released the latest Mac Mini with no optical drive, telling us we don't need one nowadays because we can always download installers from the internet. All their software is now only available via download with no physical disc like before. There is no mention of DVDs for other purposes but I guess they want us to buy those via their iTunes store...

To make all of this feasible I guess a massive leap will need to be made in supporting technologies that would allow everything to be stored online because at present most of us are not there in terms of broadband connections if we need to upload several gigs of files on a daily basis. Personally I am not wild about the idea of storing everything online and I like the idea of keeping something on a separate medium rather than just relying on hard drives. Does anybody have any thoughts about where we are headed over the next few years and how best to adapt?