Do only Cingular customers have cool? If you don't carry an iPod branded music player, are you part of the "out crowd"?

With the recent big news from Apple Computer and Motorola, it would appear so. Apple has been setting the world on fire with its iPod portable music devices. Not only are they great to use; they also make a statement about their owners. Other devices often are more capable, but can't make a dent in the portable music player market, when compared with iPod.

Motorola also has been cool lately. Its Razr cell phone is among the most exciting products to hit the communications market in ages.

Put them together, and you have ultracool -- but only if you're using Cingular for your cell service. If you use Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, Nextel or other wireless services, you can't get one of the new Motorola-iPod combined devices, dubbed the Rokr.

It's funny about cool. It's a moving target. What was cool last year becomes so, er, "last year." So far the iPod has been able to stay "this year" by introducing new products, each time with a new definition of cool.

First, it was being able to buy music legally online -- a true coup by Steve Jobs. Then, after others started selling music legally online, they added sleek and lightweight. Don't forget pictures ... shuffling playlists ... and now cell phones in one package.

The problem with the new Rokr is not what it is, but what it isn't.

It can't download tunes using your cell service. You need to connect it to your computer via USB. That's OK; but others are working furiously on downloadable tunes that you can get over the air. Some providers are already offering short videos. That would be cool.

It can't play music from non-Apple sources. To get your iPod cell phone filled, you need to purchase the music from Apple's iTunes. That's OK, too, as long as you don't expect to use your cell phone to get your music cheaply using Napster or Yahoo! Music, or Rhapsody, or other subscription or music download services. You'll be paying 99 cents a song as you buy from Apple.

Most importantly, it can't connect you to any other cell provider except Cingular. Being with Cingular isn't bad either. But you don't get the choice. I can imagine teenagers approaching their parents with requests for the new Rokr and getting a positive response. Then, when the parents go to their local cell phone store, they can't find it because they don't get their cell service from Cingular.

Cingular executives are probably salivating over the new service contracts that will come their way because of the Rokr. Yet, I can't help but be hesitant. What kind of parent would switch cell services so his or her teenager could get a music player in his cell phone? It's just not a good reason to switch. Let the teen carry around a separate device. He's got two pockets. There's only so far that cool can move a parent.

With the availability of subscription services that allow music lovers to listen to thousands of different tracks each month for the price of a single downloadable CD, I also can't imagine why they would want to lock themselves into buying music at 99 cents a track.

OK, I give in. If money is not an object to you, and if you want to carry around a single device, be locked into a specific cell phone system, and if your ego requires you to do only cool, then the Rokr is a great device for you.

Then there's the rest of us. We'll still be listening. We'll be cool -- just not as cool.