Spencer Chin

EE Times

(05/20/2005 10:12 AM EDT)

TOKYO — Toshiba will introduce a music player in late June as the first application of its perpendicular recording hard disk drive.

The player, dubbed as Gigabeat F41, will have a capacity of 40 Gbytes, enabling it to store up to about 10,000 tunes.

Toshiba developed the 1.8-inch perpendicular hard disk drive last December. The drive`s density is 133 Gbits per square inch, producing a 40GB capacity with a single platter.

As the company`s conventional 40 Gbyte music player model used a two platter hard drive, the new single-platter drive player is 3 mm thinner and roughly 15 percent smaller in volume.

Toshiba plans to introduce the gigabeat music player overseas shortly, though will limit sales of the model with the perpendicular hard drive to Japan until production ramps up.

Volume production of the single platter 40 Gbyte drive will commence shortly, with a dual-platter 80 Gbyte model drive due out September.