These days, of course, high-capacity flash drives and cloud computing have helped make those giant slices of square-shaped storage all but obsolete. By the time today's toddlers are adults, the 5.25-inch floppy will be an unfamiliar relic of an ancient-sounding time.

The brief tone. The dialing of those magical numbers. And . It's musical, really, starting with a single beep and expanding into cascading harmonies of mechanical song. Then comes the satisfying bursts of static, with their climactic rush that screams out: "Sweet success, baby! We're in!"

For many of us, the sequence brings back warm memories of bulletin board systems and slow-as-molasses (but exciting as imaginable) dial-up Internet. For future generations, it'll likely be little more than an irritating noise.