Ecodigital's windup PMP runs on elbow grease

Trevor Baylis, famed British inventor of the "windup" radio (which runs on cranking power) and all-around bon vivant, has set his sights on a newer form of portable entertainment: the digital media player. Baylis, along with the company Ecodigital, has created a small PMP which never needs to be plugged in -- you simply wind the small crank on the back when you need more juice (although, if you want to go ahead and destroy the planet, it offers USB charging as well). According to the company, one minute (or a third of the new Kelly Clarkson single) of cranking garners 40 sweet minutes of playback, and you can crank to a maximum of 20 hours. The player features a 1.8-inch color screen, 2GB of onboard memory, an SD card slot, FM tuner, line-in recording, and playback of MP3, WMA, ASF, and WAV files. Pre-orders for a mid-August shipment available now for £169.99, or around $344.

[Via SensoryMetrics]

[derek @ Aug 10th 2007 8:07PM]

Because everyone wants to pay $344 for an ugly PMP with 2GB storage...

[Chuckles McGee @ Aug 10th 2007 9:17PM]

Look on the bright side-no one will want to steal it.

[Kevin @ Aug 11th 2007 4:26AM]

Just think though, after a month of cranking this thing that much, your forearms would be like concrete. Perfect for strangling anyone that actually says something about how pointless this thing is.

[bjrcboy @ Aug 10th 2007 8:08PM]

crank to a max of 20 hours? haha... If you wanna crank the think for 30 minutes!

[Natedog @ Aug 10th 2007 8:09PM]

If it doesn't do video, then why is it a PMP? Shouldn't it be a DAP?

[Glazun @ Aug 10th 2007 8:18PM]

2gigs eh. Still, good considering you could use this on a deserted island and fall inlove with it.

[dramamoose @ Aug 11th 2007 1:18AM]

I couldn't fall in love with anything that couldn't store pr0n.

[Rob @ Aug 10th 2007 8:36PM]

2 gigs, needs to be "cranked", and $344? Not today buddy.
Although I'm all for new ways on saving electricity, this turns out more expensive than just plugging your favorite mp3 player to your pc and/or ac outlet charger.

[jessy @ Aug 12th 2007 4:53PM]

exactly, not today. but in 5 years, when this product has either, failed or triumphed.

in 2010 i heard their is going to be a new/better way of making/using flash based memory theoretically this thing could become a 20gig flash player in 2010/2011+

and then, the battery its self could be adopted to use something as good or better as the cowon Iaudio7's 60 hour battery.


this product has future potential, but not today.

[Kris S. @ Aug 10th 2007 8:38PM]

Thanks but I'll keep my Cowon D2.

[dramamoose @ Aug 11th 2007 1:17AM]

Okay. There are obviously the disadvantages to this device, but I like the concept. In fact, I'd love to see it implemented in an actual charger (or external battery) for devices. I can't tell you how many times I've needed to get another hour out of a device's battery.

[Mike @ Aug 11th 2007 4:17PM]

I saw such a device in a Woolworths shop recently, it had an integrated LED torch, connections for every major cellphone manufacturer, plus USB. It cost about £7 ($14). Its one extra gadget to carry round, but its greatnot to have to worry about conserving the battery.

[Elaine @ Aug 11th 2007 2:55AM]

£170 and it doesn't even play lossless? Pfft, total waste of money..

[Bosco @ Aug 11th 2007 3:31AM]

Wow! Napolean Negroponte strikes again with his OPPC (One PMP Per Child) Initiative!!

[Andrew @ Aug 11th 2007 7:28AM]

I actually really like this concept. I find rechargeable batteries are never ready when I need them, and don't like having to carry around spare Alkalines. I could literally toss this thing in my glovebox or a drawer for a week and not worry about the charge on it when I want to pull it out and use it.

$340 and solid state, though? WTF? There's no market for this thing in that unfortunate price range...I'm just going to deal with docking my iPod for a while :)

[Craig @ Aug 11th 2007 1:57PM]

What ever happened to kinetic charging? You know, it was used in those self-charging watches. That seems to be a better fit for an mp3 player...I mean, the thing could charge itself while you are jogging or exercising.

[Dan @ Aug 11th 2007 4:05PM]

The relative energy require precludes 'self winding' mechanisms in DAP/PMPs. Watches don't require that much energy, so the self winding works fine for it. Not so for the device above.

[Jobe Roberts @ Aug 11th 2007 3:00PM]

Maybe this product would do better if it included an audio library with post nuclear survival instructions.

[Dan @ Aug 11th 2007 4:08PM]

I for one like the crank and hope to see that option on an increasing number of devices. You only have to run out of batteries or have a dead power wart once to recognize how nice the crank option is. Where are all the portable crank TV's? They're overdue.

[Mitch Brisebois @ Aug 12th 2007 9:38PM]

Of couse it's not an iPod! But you idiots have missed the point... accessibility.. no power... and the smart people said it - just a charger would do! Wher would YOU recharge YOUR Zune in Darfur????