More Entertaining Exercise Machines

Today's idea directly follows from yesterdays.

Many exercise machines at gyms are equipped with lcd screens to watch television and headphone jacks to listen to the TV programs. Using this only to watch TV is a rather limited use of the hardware in the machines.

Rather than needing to take my e-book reader, or an mp3 player to the gym, why can't the exercise machine fill this roll for me. They are already trying to serve other entertainment jobs.

With a little extra computer hardware much more could be done with the displays and headphone jacks. For example why not let the exercise machine be able to play mp3s. It could support flash cards with mp3s. Or perhaps there could be an online service that could be registered for in which users could upload their music and access it from the machines.

Likewise, a person could easily read their e-books on the machines without need for an extra device. Most people likely wouldn't take advantage of this, but some probably would. It could even be marketed to parents as something that encourages their children to read.

If we want to get really fancy, it could have a limited web browser. This use would have additional challenges, but they are nothing that could not be solved with a little thought.

There is obviously a demand for exercise machines at gyms that provide something to do while working out. I see people using the TVs and watching various programs. Why not give people the option of doing something other than just watching TV. Yes it will cost more to add in this functionality, but it also costs more to add in the TVs in the first place. I know I would definitely appreciate such a feature.