CDs 'could be history in five years'

Compact discs could be history within five years, superseded by a new generation of fingertip-sized memory tabs with no moving parts.

Scientists say each paper-thin device could store more than a gigabyte of information - equivalent to 1,000 high quality images - in one cubic centimetre of space.

Experts have developed the technology by melding together organic and inorganic materials in a unique way.

They say it could be used to produce a single-use memory card that permanently stores data and is faster and easier to operate than a CD.

It's claimed that turning the invention into a commercially viable product might take as little as five years.

The card would not involve any moving parts, such as the laser and motor drive required by compact discs. Its secret is the discovery of a previously unknown property of a commonly used conductive plastic coating.

US scientists at Princeton University, New Jersey, and computer giants Hewlett-Packard combined the polymer with very thin-film, silicon-based electronics.

The device would be like a standard CD-R (CD-recordable) disc in that writing data onto it makes permanent changes and can only be done once. But it would also resemble a computer memory chip, because it would plug directly into an electronic circuit and have no moving parts.

A report in the journal Nature described how the researchers identified a new property of a polymer called PEDOT.

PEDOT, which is clear and conducts electricity, has been used for years as an anti-static coating on photographic film. Researchers looked at ways of using PEDOT to store digital information. In the new memory card, data in the form of ones and zeroes would be represented by polymer pixels.

When information is recorded, higher voltages at certain points in the circuit grid would "blow" the PEDOT fuses at those points. As a result, data is permanently etched into the device. A blown fuse would from then on be read as a zero, while an unblown one that lets current pass through is read as a one.

Great, now I gotta get all my show tunes in another format!!!! And what about the Village People?

Cool idea, but I'm still gonna need 240 of them to backup my PC.

I don't see CDs being obsolete in 5 or even 10 years.

OK-- so you blow the fuse and it comes up as a "0".

You've still got lots of unblown fuses representing 1s. What happens when you subject it to a bit of EMF- like say from a degausing field or microwave... or your friendly neighborhood HAM radio operator?

Plus, I would think it would have to be pretty cheap since it's single-use memory. I can't see the industry let it go for a decent price point.

I agree, although other devices or media may become "the in thing", I think cd's will be around for a long while. Hell, you can still buy cassettes.

I'm still waiting for the return of the 5 1/2 floppy!!!

What do you mean 'the return of'??

when his old failed apple spits out the floppy...

See, ghandi understands. I put that damn thing in there 2 years ago, been waiting for it's return ever since.

boy scientist have the right idea

"makes think smaller an smaller" soon it's get so small you loose it when you put it down or sneeze

So they had said about the Floppy diskette....yeah right I will believe it when it actually happen!!

I actually tried to create a windows "startup disk" using a 5.25 floppy drive but it fails every time because it is hard-wired for 3.5 floppy drives/disks!

Anyone see MIB ?
"How many times do I have to buy the beatles White album"?
Or something to that effect.
I don't see why it won't happen. Look at what is pushing it and pulling it.
If you get a cheaper, better technology isn't that what we all hope for?
Look at all the companies that would want to sell you newer technology. New players, new discs, having to repurchase all your media all over again.

An EXCELLENT point, and exactly why I standardized on CF instead of SD or SM for my digicam and the like.

Plus- CF is available in much larger denominations, so there's that for ya....

<exactly how small do we need this stuff, anyway? We've got memory in a small enough package-- now get crackin' on my neural link-ed, cellphone-sized full function PC with HUD integrated sunglasses.

That's PC-- for PORTABLE computer.