IBM races to make hi-tech memory (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Handheld gadgets storing thousands of hours of film footage could soon be a reality thanks to IBM scientists.

Researchers for the computer giant are working on a technology known as racetrack memory which uses tiny magnetic boundaries to store data.

In a paper in the journal Science, the team at IBM's Almaden lab in California outline ways to make the building blocks of the novel storage medium.

The capacity of MP3 players could increase 100 times from present levels.

But the IBM team say racetrack memory is still seven to eight years away from commercial use.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7341031.stm

So good old solid-state RAM is no longer "high-tech"? Flash RAM is old hat? Strange title.

Now, if only there were 500,000 songs worth listening to ...

[Pawel K]

1. It will take them 8 years to develop that?

I bet sandisk beats them to the punch. They are already experimenting with new solid state memory.

[lapfog_1]

2. That's OK...

I funded the research (partially) into holographic storage back in the early nineties... and it was "10 years away from commercial product" then... and it's STILL maybe 10 years away.

And while I have the utmost respect for the Almedan researchers (I knew a few of them), they often had things sitting around that IBM refused to commercialize for various business reasons (mostly because the new products would compete with current selling products from IBM and no one else was pressing them).

But I would love to have tons more storage... we always find a way to employ it and do new things.