Last week Apple launched its iTunes Music Store online music shop in Europe. People can now download individual songs for 79p a pop. Experts predict many music retailers will close as a result.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the music business rather than Apple may be the main force behind the iPod. Rather like the much-criticised BT and Microsoft, people love to hate the music business because they believe its behaviour is monopolistic. For example, people often buy a whole album even when they only want one song. One of the crucial differences between Apple's online music store and traditional outlets is that at the iTunes Store, people will finally be able to buy just the songs they want.

A consequence of the music industry's bully-boy tactics is that many people are predisposed towards any alternatives that may emerge. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that everybody wants to go off and download music without paying, though the initial success of Napster showed that there is certainly some scope for such activities. But Napster's decline shows most people are not basically dishonest and prefer to wait for someone to produce a bona fide solution to the problem.

Enter the iPod. Ostensibly an MP3 player, the iPod is nothing more than a compact hard disk and basic software, all housed in a beautiful but low-cost case.

So what is so special about the iPod? Some effort went into the user interface, and more into the iTunes software that comes with the device for managing the user's music. But from the user's point of view, although the iPod is first and foremost a portable music player, it actually does much more than this. Because it stores the user's music on their PC and also on their iPod, it's actually among the first consumer products that force users to have a backup copy of their data. Plus, there's a huge range of third-party plug-ins, for example, to make the iPod into a dictation machine or in-car entertainment system.

So once someone has bought one, they will probably find new uses for it. I use mine to move huge files in and out of IT Week Labs.

Crucially, Apple's design doesn't ignore the concerns of the people that own music copyrights. It actually makes it very difficult to swap music between one iPod and another. So although some retailers might rue the day Apple got rhythm, the rest of the music industry has a more open mind.

It's early days for the European Apple music store, so it is not yet certain whether it will change the music industry as some predict.

Meanwhile, judging by the volume and vehemence of the letters we receive about BT and Microsoft, I'd say their days are numbered. Advances in voice over IP mean BT is already in dire straits. Microsoft could survive for years, but in both cases people are already predisposed towards alternatives.

The iPod story serves as both an inspiration to designers and a warning to vendors. Respond to your customers, or someone else will.