CDs and conventional music albums seem to be one step ahead their grave, as new storage media for audio files find their way on the market. The latest addition in the industry is the good-old flash disk or pen drive. Call it whatever you want, but it seems to be the future in the music industry.

Instead of buying an audio CD with your favorite music, you could as well purchase a digital rights management-free version of the album on a $30 USB drive with a sleek design. You'll have to just plug it into a spare USB port, then either listen to the music on-the-fly, or download it to your computer and add it to your music library.

The new medium seems to become more and more popular with important artists in the music industry, such as Jennifer Lopez, Ringo Starr, Matchbox Twenty and Max Volta. Many other artists are expected to join in the following months. The USB releases are "staged" by an US company called All Access, and they have signed partnerships with EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group that will result in other artists adopting the USB format.

"The selling point to the labels is a really good one--it's a marriage between merchandise and music so that people will at least buy it instead of stealing it because they want the merchandise," All Access CEO Chris Guggenheim said. "It's the only for-sure non-stolen product."

However, the alternative media are currently more of a favor than a source of revenue, as getting an album on flash media is more expensive than a CD-based version. Moreover, musicians don't massively rely on this alternative and are placing limited orders, which keeps the price up. For instance, the flash bracelets cost $5 to $7 per unit, and they can even reach $17 (depending on their capacity).

These versions can be regarded as collector's items rather than average consumer products. Music companies don't expect to make money out of selling USB albums, but they are sure to create a new trend in music and to keep fans connected.