500TB MP3 Players coming? Storage Breakthrough!

Researchers in the UK have reportedly developed a microscopic switch that could lead to massive increases in storage capacity for portable devices such as MP3 players.

The switch is prefabricated of microscopic molecule clusters just .32 nanometers apart, which could theoretically allow for up to one billion transistors on an area no large than a quarter.

According to the BBC, the researchers are able to ingest the switch on both carbon and gold surfaces, message in the forthcoming they might be able to ingest plastic instead of fragile silicon for circuit boards.

The advancement could lead to massive storage capacities for smaller devices, and the researchers estimate it could lead to an MP3 player with a capacity of up to 500,000 gigabytes, which is 500 terabytes. To place it in perspective, the biggest 3.5″ internal hornlike drive available today is a mere 1 terabyte.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent announcement by IBM of its own nanotechnology-based Racetrack Memory.