The new musical universe

IT HAS already prompted owners to spend time and money expanding their personal collections of music and film.

But now, the iPod threatens to overwhelm even the most committed owner, thanks to technology developed by Scottish scientists which could increase the music player's capacity so much that it will be able to store up to 125 million songs – almost 400 million minutes of music.

The new components, devised by researchers at Glasgow University, could allow up to 500,000 gigabytes of storage on a microchip about the size of a 2p coin. The largest capacity of the current iPod is just 160Gb.

The new component would give a storage limit which is 3,125 times the current maximum capacity.

Professor Lee Cronin and Dr Malcolm Kadodwala, of Glasgow University's department of chemistry, discovered that they could dramatically increase data storage without increasing the size of devices by developing a new molecule-sized switch.

The switch – made up of two clusters of molecules positioned just 32 millionths of a millimetre apart – allows scientists to easily manipulate an electrical field.

By placing these tiny switches on a surface made of gold or carbon, the scientists claim they can fit up to a billion transistors – the fundamental building blocks of computers and electrical devices – on to a single chip, more than five times the current limit.

This would allow massive increases in storage capacity, expanding the capacity of a normal iPod exponentially.

Last night, Prof Cronin said: "Molecule-sized switches would lead to increasing data storage to around 4 petabits per square inch – equivalent to around 500,000Gb.

"This breakthrough shows conceptually this is possible, but we are yet to solve the fabrication and addressing problems."

Prof Cronin said that the development could bring about both miniaturisation and increased power.

He added: "We could expect that in 20 years my mobile phone will be vastly more powerful than my current PC.

"In terms of the iPod, you have to ask if there are 125 million songs in the world, but then again, human imagination will expand to find a way to use such capacity.

"In 20 years' time, we're going to be talking about holographic movies which play 15 different soundtracks that change when you move your head."

Leander Kahney, author of the book Cult of iPod, said owners would not be intimidated by such a huge capacity: "While no-one is likely to have a library of 125 million songs, there will always be new ways to fill up ever-expanding storage space.

"When the first hard drives came out about 15 years ago, people thought 20 megabytes was all the storage space anyone needed.

"Now, a single high-definition movie can easily weigh in at 15Gb or more, and high-definition video is ten to 12Gb per hour.

"A modest library of movies, say 100 films, could easily fill a 1 terabyte (1,000Gb] drive. Add your music, home movies, digital pictures and everything else, and you can easily fill up several giant hard drives.

"Future iPods and iPhones that can play high-definition movies and record home video in high definition will have no trouble filling future hard drives – no matter how big they are."

Last night, a spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

The breakthrough was reported in this month's edition of the Nature Nanotechnology journal.

CHIP WITH EVERYTHING

THE history of the iPod and its achievement is all the more impressive for its brevity.

From its earliest five gigabyte, 1,000 song model in 2000, to its current 160Gb, 40,000 song version, the device has revolutionised both the music business and the way people look at music.

Though there were other digital music players available, many held on to the old Sony Walkman tape player-style controls. The iPod broke the mould by introducing a wheel that users could spin to scroll through menus and songs.

This user-friendly format was coupled to the web-based iTunes store, which allowed people to pick individual songs instead of buying the whole album.

It was initially designed for Macintosh computers alone, but its sales breakthrough came in 2002, when Apple produced a Windows- compatible version.

The machine has not avoided controversy, with early complaints about short battery life and the fact that iTunes tracks cannot be played on non-iPod players.

In 2005, the iPod became capable of playing video clips.

And the most up-to-date version, the iPhone, released last year, saw the device move into a completely different sphere, while reducing its storage capacity to just 4Gb.

Since the iPod's release in 2000, sales are estimated to have exceeded 110 million.