I remember that awkward period after we outgrew floppies but before USB flash storage became mainstream when CD-RW and CD+RW (Yes there was a difference and it mattered!) being peddled as the next portable storage format. My first USB stick was 128 megabytes and cost around $60. I actually still have it, but it may no longer work. I believe I bought it in around 2003 or 2004. I remember them steadily decreasing in price, or at least price per unit storage, very quickly over the ensuing years, to the point where they were giving away multi-gig sticks by around 2009 or 2010.
I remember when we called those little USB devices dongles. And before flash drives, there were Zip drives. We’ve come a long way from floppy disks!
Man, I really do miss that slick feel of sliding a floppy disk in the drive. Or playing with the little moving piece on top that protects the disk until the spring breaks and then you have to manually tape and untape the window everytime you use it.
Some USB devices are still called “dongles”. USB Bluetooth and Wi-Fi dongles, for example.
Some companies still use license dongles for their software too.