Barney Wragg, Universal's eLabs senior vice president, argued that Apple's focus on presentation and making their product work well holds the key.
"If there's one thing that Apple showed us, it's that technology isn't the important thing," Wragg said. "Apple have succeeded because of style and consumer experience."
Wragg thinks television may be the next digital music format.
"Sky and others will introduce broadband-capable set-top boxes capable of supporting music sales," he said. "But these services will only work if I can transfer my purchases to my iPod."
Convergence would be essential if the suggestion of a "celestial jukebox" was to work, too. Mayall argued that music could be sold as a commodity, like water or power, through a subscription model and streamed to multiple devices with always-on access. But, as Bull said: "If you can access everything, you can't choose anything," pointing to the success of the iPod Shuffle, which takes the hard work out of song selection.
The final choice will be with the consumer and which format they feel is the best to store and transport their music. For now, the iPod is definitely the Apple of their eye.
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