Another great format war ended this week, with Blu-Ray to 70% of released films and, according to the Financial Times, HD-DVD left with one major studio. HD-DVD owners are either mildly put out, or happy they can now pick up HD movies for a few dollars as they’re tossed out by major retailers.

We’ve been here before: whether RealPlayer versus Windows Media, BSD versus Linux, or boxers versus briefs. Let’s take a look back at some of the great format wars of our time.

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The initial release of the iPod wasn’t great. A so-so product that only worked with Macs and required users to spend their lives ripping CDs. But its long-term effect were huge: a massive 10% (and rapidly growing) chunk of music is now sold digitally to the iPod and its competitors. So what will the iPhone’s long-term effect on the cell phone industry be?

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