If you’ve ever thought that your MP3 player just doesn’t hold enough music and the 40,000 tracks the largest MP3 player can store is nowhere near enough for your diverse tastes, fear not, for some boffins from Scotland have made a technological breakthrough.

Well, almost.

It’s still not proven, but the theory is that a new switch that allows them to manipulate the electrical field can be installed in the MP3 player, which means they can store more data without increasing the size of the device itself.

As well as being revolutionary news for the MP3 player market, this could also mean incredible leaps for technology such as DVD. Don’t get too excited yet though, because the technology isn’t expected to come out for another 15 years.
At the current rate of progress however, you can expect that rather Conservative estimate to come down quite a bit.

Professor Cronin said:

What we have done is find a way to potentially increase the data storage capabilities in a radical way. This is unprecedented and provides a route to produce new a molecule-based switch that can be easily manipulated using an electric field.

The fact these switches work on carbon means that they could be embedded in plastic chips so silicon is not needed and the system becomes much more flexible both physically and technologically.

Tesco have, in recent years, established themselves as the dominant brand in the UK when it comes to supermarkets. They’ve beaten Sainsbury’s and Asda comprehensively year after year. Now it seams Tesco are looking for a new challenge and are spoiling to take on the Internet’s big boys in the shape of Amazon and Apple in the music download arena.

iTunes has for a long time been the place to go to purchase your music online when you don’t want the wait delivery times can bring. Amazon recently started offering a similar service so that customers could download their purchases direct from the website, even whole movies in some cases. Now Tesco wants a piece of market, and it comes along with all of the financial backing and business knowledge it needs.

Tesco knows how to dominate a market.

Tesco has just announced that they will be launching an expanded digital download store that has the potential to take in iTunes. Tesco currently offer musical downloads which are limited in number and are only in the Windows WMA format, meaning they cannot be played back on an iPod.

In their recent press release Tesco said their new service will go live in May and will offer 3,300,000 tracks, and 1,600,000 of those will be DRM free and in the MP3 format. Tesco expects all of the tracks to be DRM free by the end of the year.

Tesco expects the prices of the downloads to be comparable with iTunes, though knowing Tesco it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see the prices come in slighter under the iTunes pricing structure.

The United States always used to be the frontrunner in the Western world when it came to new technology, and its population embracing the technology. The idea of music on your mobile is a simple one, and one that many mobile networks have placed a lot of time, effort and funding into.

However it appears that US consumers aren’t so keen on mobile music, particularly when it comes to the cost involved with downloading the music to their phones from the providers.

A new study from Jupiter Research however says that even cost isn’t a factor to the resistance put up by consumers in the US.

Just 14% of people who took part in the research said they would buy MP3 music via their mobile phones, while just 28% claimed they would purchase ringtones. The rest said they had no intention in ever buying music via their mobile phones.

1/5 of all mobile phone handsets in the US have MP3 player capabilities, but the problem rests with the operators placing too expensive charges on the musical downloads.

The biggest issue seems to be that in the US the mobile handset tends to be the property of the network provider, whereas in Europe the consumers tend to own the handsets themselves. Therefore US mobile phone users are reluctant to purchase music for the mobile phones when they don’t actually ‘own’ the hardware themselves.

As MP3 player technology advances to allow more storage capacity, better quality videos, more features and longer battery life, what do we really need right now in the MP3 player industry?

If you answered a wind up MP3 player that lasts for ten minutes, you’d be right. You’d be crazy, but you’d be right.

A new wind up player with a crank handle has been invented that affords you a massive ten minutes of playback time, just enough to last you that really lazy session at the gym… if you’re feeling particularly lethargic.

Made by Thanko, the Cranking MP3 Player isn’t quite set to revolutionise the MP3 player market, but it does have a few advantages over any other player.

How many times has your MP3 player ran out of battery power when you most wanted it? That will never happen with the wind up player, but then you wouldn’t get through many podcasts with it either.

The wind up MP3 player features 1GB of memory and can also be charged via USB, if your hand is too tired for cranking.

By now everyone should know that if you’re caught using your mobile phone while driving you’re breaking the law. It is dangerous to do so as your attention is diverted from the task of actually driving in order to converse with someone, while trying to hold the phone with one hand and steer your vehicle with the other.

Accidents have been caused and people have died. More regularly though the police stop drivers using their phones and issue them with on the spot fines of £60 and reward them with 3 points on their license.

What you might not realise however is that your mobile phone isn’t the only thing that can get you fined and potentially banned. You can also be fined for using your MP3 player, changing tracks, adjusting volume or switching it off.

South Wales Police have been cracking down recently on drivers who insist on using their phones while behind the wheel of their cars. In March 367 people were caught by South Wales Police in a blitz on the roads.

Carwyn Evans is a road safety inspector, and she said:

These results show we will keep cracking down on anyone using a mobile while driving. Using a mobile phone at the wheel can be as dangerous as drink-driving, and a few words really can be as dangerous as a few drinks.

Although the campaign is finished, all year we will be out on the roads and will take action against anyone reckless enough to use a mobile while driving.

The law on mobile phone usage while driving has existed since 2003, but the penalties were increase recently as too many people have been flouting the law.

The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that mobile phone users could face up to 2 years in jail if they use their phones while driving and are judged to have been a danger to other motorists or pedestrians.

They also stated that the law applies to the use of other devices, not just mobile phones, such as radios, sat-navs and MP3 players.

If you’re considering buying an MP3 player, but wondered if getting a girlfriend might be a better option, you’ll probably need some convincing otherwise. Yes women can be great, and by and large we all agree you can’t live without them, but MP3 players are so much better than a woman.

Here are the top ten reasons why.

1. MP3 players come with volume controls; alas girlfriends do not.
2. You can share your MP3 player with your friends, it won’t mind. Girlfriends can be quite funny about that sort of thing.
3. It only takes a second to turn on your MP3 player… girlfriends can take substantially more work.
4. Your MP3 player will look as good in the morning as it did the night before, the same can’t always be said for your girlfriend!
5. The most an MP3 player will cost you is a few hundred pounds, and that’s for the top of the line. Girlfriends are considerably more expensive.
6. You can play with your MP3 player every day of the month; your girlfriend will be off limits for a few days at least.
7. Accessories for your MP3 player are things YOU want to buy.
8. Recharging your MP3 player is a simple task of plugging it into the USB port on your computer. Recharging your girlfriend means paying for a weekend in a health farm… you do the maths.
9. When you get tired of a song on your MP3 player, simply get a new one. Girlfriends are not as easy to update.
10. You can have more than one MP3 player at a time, one for home, one for work, one for travelling etc… girlfriends can be really funny about that sort of thing.

If like me your Sundays are made for lounging around on the sofa, eating fish finger sandwiches and wondering where all of the money you had on Saturday night has disappeared to; you’ll probably have completely missed the fact that this weekend just gone was host to the London Marathon.

That annual race where athletes, fitness fanatics and grown men dressed as chickens get together in one place to run twenty six miles around the streets of London, all in the name of charity.

According to insurance company Direct Line £7.5 million worth of MP3 players were making their way around London’s streets during the 28th annual marathon, this Sunday.

The head of Direct Line’s home insurance, Andrew Lowe said:

Running is a fantastic way of keeping fit, as those taking part in the London Marathon this weekend will testify. However anyone who goes running, whether in a race or just for fun, faces the challenge of carrying valuables when on the move.

People may not realise that as mobile phones and MP3 players get more advanced, and thus more expensive, they’ll need to ensure that they are adequately covered when they are outside during the summer.

Direct Line says it offers home insurance that will cover items such as MP3 players when you are out and about, away from your home. They also advise that you back up your music before you head out because while an insurance policy can pay to replace your MP3 player, your music can be irreplaceable.

Founded in 1998, eMusic is the world’s largest digital music retailer for independent music after iTunes and indeed is the world’s largest ever distributor of independent music tracks.

Earlier this week, they announced they have sold over 200 million MP3 downloads since they started their subscription-based model in late 2003. 40 million of those downloads have been sold since the Amazon MP3 download service launched in September of last year. The 200 millionth download was Fiery Crash by Andrew Bird.

The first 100 million were sold in the three years between November 2003 and December 2006 but the second 100 million were sold in the following eighteen months so that just goes to show the dramatic growth in the popularity of MP3 players and downloads in the last couple of years.

eMusic also emphasises how their service, and the simple workings of MP3 downloads, are helping independent artists find fans who otherwise may never have heard of them. They offer over 3.5 million MP3 music downloads from more than 27,000 artists and thousands of audio book titles.

If you haven’t joined the growing fan base of MP3 downloads, then take a look at the wide selection of MP3 players available. Prices have dropped dramatically in the last year or two and MP3 players are an easy, convenient way to take your interests with you.

MP3 downloads are finally making it into the corporate world. Friends Provident has recently relaunched their information centre online for their advisors.

Advisors can now download podcasts and webcasts onto their MP3 players so they can listen to items such as sales tips and online seminars to help with their professional development and building their business.

Dave Mace, head of Friends Provident eBusiness department, said

As industry leaders in technology it seemed natural for us to extend our website to provide better support to advisers. To complement our face-to-face and telephone-based consultancy, advisers now also have the choice to obtain information, news and business development resources online. We’ll be regularly adding new features and content to the Info Centre, ensuring that we are reflecting advisers’ interests of the moment and anticipating what’s coming over the horizon.

It seems that more and more corporate companies are joining the technological revolution and there is no doubt that MP3 downloads are here to stay. MP3 players are becoming increasingly cost effective and are a practical way for people to study and learn whilst on the move and not just a way to listen to music.

With anything that uses computer based technology these days, you’ll find a virus for it. It’s a sad reflection on society, but you do need to be careful whenever you connect anything to a PC. Whether that means your MP3 player, your USB stick or even your mobile phone.

They are all susceptible to viruses. Getting a virus on your mobile phone or your MP3 player can be worse than one on your PC as it’s more difficult to treat.

DriveSentry has just launched something that all MP3 player and mobile phone owners should take a look at. They’ve released their latest anti-virus software, GoAnywhere. The software has been developed specifically to protect removable discs from getting infected with viruses.

The idea is that USB memory sticks and MP3 players finally have something that protects them, regardless of what they get connected to and what viruses it may already have.

The software targets all files that are being downloaded from the Internet and recognises any viruses, filtering them out.

The chief technology officer of DriveSentry, John Safa said about the product:

This type of security measure is becoming more essential, as the use of the Internet and social networking sites has become second nature to most people as a channel to communicate with friends and keep up to date with trends and current affairs.