Toshiba announced today they are working on development of a new technology that they predict will allow them to produce 1.8-inch hard drives (the same profile in today's iPods) with capacities 10 times the size of current hard drives.

Today's 1.8-inch drives are available in capacities up to 80 GB; the 60 GB version is the largest now found in iPods. (It holds about 15,000 songs.)

Does this mean you'll be able to fit 150,000 songs in your pocket in the near future?

Don't count on it.

The new Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) drives are expected to cost the same per GB as current drives, which means a top-of-the-line iPod would range in price from $6,000 to $8,000 if it used maximum capacity PMR drives.

Also, there's the issue of the size of iPod owner's music collections. iPod capacities are probably now approaching the number of songs that most people own (or are interested in owning). 150,000 songs is over the top for almost anybody.

But maybe not for the 14 people on the planet who would pay $6,000 for an iPod.