USB Keychains: the future media format?

As flash-based laptops are just around the corner, and prices of flash continue to drop rapidly as a result, it's time to question where else flash might impact our lives. You've probably already used a USB "keychain" with flash storage on-board. I used to use one of these in college, and it was about $100 for 128 MB. Today you can get a 4 GB keychain for $15. I predict within a year, 8 GB keychains will be on the market for a similar price.

Why should anybody care? As prices for USB keychains continue to drop, perhaps we should consider moving our optical-based content to them. If I could replace all of my DVDs with an array of USB keys, I could also imagine all those DVD cases shrinking as well. I also wouldn't worry as much about scratches on my DVDs as I get all the time now with my Blockbuster Online subscription. I also get incredibly high transfer speeds, and to top it off, I don't have to buy a new DVD player when HD-DVD/blue-ray win out.

Realistically, $15 for a storage device for a movie that costs around $18 is a terrible opportunity for the powers that be, but once that price drops to $1 for millions of units, it becomes practical again, as DVDs currently run between $0.50 and $1.50 now.

I'm all about solid-state storage. It means less battery power wasted on spinning media, longer expected lifetimes of the media itself, and very little room for damages when things are hit or dropped. I think once solid-state storage becomes the norm, there won't be anything particularly exciting for me to hope for in the world of computers, and maybe I'll be on my way to another passion.