Designers Chih-Wei Wang and Shou-Hsi Fu think that in the future, music albums could be packaged not just in a compact medium, but one that integrates a music player as well. Their concept device Skinny Player is a lot simpler and thinner than the iPod Shuffle, incorporating storage, a battery, a play/stop button and speakers into a Band-Aid-like form factor.
Like its inspiration, the Skinny Player adheres to the user’s body. This is not just practical but essential to the device, because it will use the person’s body heat to recharge its batteries. Isn’t making stuff up a lot of fun?
Right off the bat we can see that this concept has a couple of problems. First of all, it has no headphone jack, and I doubt that thumb-sized speakers will do justice to any piece of music. I’d also be worried about the environmental effects of a one-trick device like the Skinny Player. I can see myself neglecting to use or even properly dispose of the albums that I don’t listen to anymore. But I think future portable music players could take a couple of cues from this concept, especially the continuously charging battery.
[via Yanko Design via Crenk]
