When did running get so complicated? Remember the good old days when going for a run was as easy as changing shoes and heading out the front door? Now, there’s a plethora of running gear and gadgets - ranging from heart rate monitors to state-of-the-art running shoes. It seems that not many runners leave home without their MP3 players either, but would they be prepared to work hard for their music? The Dancepants kinetic music player is a new design concept that would see runners harnessing their kinetic energy to power their music player. Yep, you’ve got to keep moving to keep grooving.
The Dancepants kinetic music player concept was a short-listed entry in Designboom’s Green Life competition. Designed by Inesa Malafej and Arunas Sukarevicius from Lithuania, the music player uses the energy from your running or dancing steps to keep the music playing and the battery charging. It appears to work by a series of connected components – a lead travels from a coin-sized disc near the ankle of the pants to the circular music player in the front pant pocket and on to the ear buds. Not sure if this concept will get off the ground – what do you think - would you be prepared to move for your music?