At roughly the same time when...

...a new iteration of the iPod is introduced, a music god says the future of music doesn't include the iPod.

"You'd pay, say, $19.95 a month, and the music will come anywhere you'd like. In this new world, there will be a virtual library that will be accessible from your car, from your cellphone, from your computer, from your television. Anywhere. The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home."

...

"Either all the record companies will get together or the industry will fall apart and someone like Microsoft will come in and buy one of the companies at wholesale and do what needs to be done."

Now...Rick Rubin's been right about most music-related things for almost 25 years now (sans the Slayer and Mel C albums), so I somewhat believe what he's suggesting here. It makes sense to me, and honestly I welcome the thought. Sounds good to me. But...do you really think Apple won't be ready for this? You already can plug a "Walkman-like device" into your speakers at home. It's called the iPod. And more importantly..."Walkman-like device"? Is this 1986, Rick?