Ipods and music players of the future could have the capacity to store 300 million songs thanks to a breakthrough by scientists in Glasgow.

Ipods may carry more songsA team of nanotechnology researchers has devised a way for data storage to be dramatically increased without the need to increase the size of devices.Current devices can store a maximum of 3.3 gigabytes of data on one square inch of microchip, around 40,000 songs.Professor Lee Cronin and Dr Malcolm Kadodwala's work would see 500,000 gigabytes squeezed onto a microchip the same size.Professor Cronin said: "What we have done is find a way to potentially increase the data storage capabilities in a radical way.

"We have been able to assemble a functional nanocluster that incorporates two electron donating groups, and position them precisely 0.32 nm apart so that they can form a totally new type of molecular switching device."Microchips rely on transistors, which are glorified switches, and the new development may mean that a novel kind of switching device can be created.

The scientists are a long way off being able to bring the change to commercial MP3 players, but Professor Cronin said the work showed "conceptually that this is possible".The work is being carried out in conjunction with scientists at the STFC Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington, Cheshire.Nanotechnology is the science of the tiny, and it is leading to a number of advances in a wide range of disciplines such as health, fuel and clothing.One nanometre is a millionth of a millimetre.

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