Can’t wait for a solar-powered iPod? You don’t have to!

Apple might be busying itself with patents for solar-powered iPods and iPhones, but Thanko has beaten them to it, selling this sun-fuelled music machine already!

Available from their website, it’s a $95 (£48) media player with a 2-inch screen and 4GB of internal memory.

As well as playing MP3, WMA and WAV music files, it’ll kick out movies in AVI, RM, MPG, VOB, DAT and RMVB formats. But that’s nothing compared to its amazing solar abilities.

Thanko says sitting the player in the sunshine for an hour will give it enough juice to play music for 35 minutes, or video for 15 minutes. That’s not too bad, and there’s even an FM radio, voice recorder and some games built in.

In case the 4GB of internal memory leaves you hungry, there’s a microSD slot for as much expansion as you like. Take that Apple!

Out now | £48
Thanko