We’ve seen lots of wind-up electronic devices in the past few months, but the Eco Media Player is far and away the most stylish, advanced one yet. The device is the brainchild of Trevor Baylis, the creator of the first wind-up radio. Only one minute of hand cranking provides 40-45 minutes of battery juice. When fully charged, the player’s lithium ion battery can provide 48 hours of music and seven hours of video–a huge upgrade from the iPod (mine plays 5-ish hours of music before petering out). In case you don’t feel like giving your hands a workout, Baylis’ media player comes with a USB charger.
The Eco Media Player also has decent technical specs–a 2″ LCD screen, 4GB flash/8GB internal memory, compatibility with mp3, AAC, WMA, WAV, OGG, and Audible file types, and integration with Windows Media Player 10 (it works with iTunes as well). With a super-bright LED “torch” mode and 3-minute phone charger included in its design, the Eco Media Player could also be useful in emergency situations.
You can buy the Wind-Up Eco Media player at Real Goods Solar for $199.
I don't like paywalls. You don't like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a limited paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong — and it was always tough to decide what we should put behind there. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then fewer people read it! We just don't like paywalls, and so we've decided to ditch ours. Unfortunately, the media business is still a tough, cut-throat business with tiny margins. It's a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay above water or even perhaps — gasp — grow. So ...
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