In LOVE with this device!

Sometimes you buy something and you spend alot of money and just

don't feel like you have gotten your moneys worth or don't use it

enough to justify to yourself the purchase.

Well for me the Archos device is just about the best purchase

that I have ever made. It is just incredible. I literally use it

every day. I take it on the train. I take it backpacking. I watch

TV in bed before going to sleep. I even watch it at work occasionally.

I really have no complaints whatsoever on this device!

I previously purchased the Archos 604 30GB model. And yes I bought

all the plugins... This purchase was for the Wifi and higher resolution

than my 604. After firmware upgrade it has worked flawlessly.

Everything else on the device is just great.

Let me say that I purchased the video iPod and the video itself looks

great but it is SO SMALL! The screen size on this is perfect.

I actually went thru alot of pain to get VIDEO ON THE IPOD!

Well this baby will play alot of formats the ipod will not. mpeg2

vob avi mpeg4. Just buy the plugins and you are good to go.

Yes its a little more expense.. blah blah blah

To do movie conversion I use Nero Recoder for ipod (mpeg4).

For TV shows I used bittorrent. :) Legally of course :)

Somehow there are alot of negative comments about the device.

I don't understand. I've had the 604 for about 6 months and still

rave about it. The 605 is just as nice.

If you don't own one already I'd recommend getting the 30GB one

if you can afford it. The flash is nice for expansion but is

slower for copying files to the device. Flash is getting much

cheaper (2GB SD card for ~$20 now...) though.

Anyway if you want to watch video get the Archos. If you want

a music player buy an iPod. If you want people to think you have

money buy an iTouch.

Hope my comments were useful to you. If you buy it and are

dissappointed I will be too.



The following is added after having the unit for over a month:

- I still love it

- Never had ANY problems playing video

- Never had ANY problems playing music

- Lockup has occurred using Web Browser. They are not frequent

and I am assuming that Archos will continue to make the

product more robust with Opera. They have yet to release

the widgets so my guess is that they are working on it.

So... still very happy with Web Browser

- Complaints about having special cable are goofy (see iPod cable)

- The Media Server option is GREAT! I have a Maxtor NAS drive

which supports uPnP so I don't have to copy stuff onto the

device itself. For shows > 1hr I copy them to the device because

the fast forward does not work with the media server. (If you

use PC and share then use the file browser it does)

All being said I would lower the stars to 4.5 because of the lockups

during Web Browsing. Hope the additional comments help you.

Thanks



Update on Dec 11:

New firmware makes the device even better. Haven't seen any lockups

using the webbrowser. And now it supports flash games. OK OK... so

the CPU is not that powerful and it won't play alot of games to

satisfaction but it does play the cards games just fine.

Anyway... Yes yes yes... you have to buy plugins for the webbrowser

and if you want to play some different formats... Just figure an

extra 50 dollars. But again.. if you want to watch VIDEO then this

IS the device for you. If you want music then there are ALOT of

better mp3 players out there. And the complaints about video conversion..

well 1 plugin buys you anything you would watch on the ipod.

Like I said above.. sorry if you don't like it.More detail ...

You get what you pay for.

I just bought this player recently and have had no bad experiences with it. The touchpad to switch songs is not AS sensitive as I might like but overall the player is great. It comes with the software to convert videos to a format it will pay. You can easily drag and drop files into folders. The sound is good. For the price it is a great little player.



I think the player pictured by the seller is a more updated version than the one I actually received. The pictures added by customers look almost identical to what I have. There is no FM transmitter on this device. Though the product I have works perfectly fine the vast difference between the product shown and what was received makes it begin to feel a little like false advertising rather than a good bargain.More detail ...

It's not perfect but I'm happy with it

I bought this to replace a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black) that had been stolen. I really liked my Zen but I wanted to see what new stuff had come out in the time since I bought it. This led me to getting the Archos 605 80GB instead mainly because of the optional TV hookups. I've never liked to watch movies or TV shows (or even music videos) on my PC monitor because I can't relax and enjoy something passive while I'm at my computer. I'd also never used the Zen's video capabilities much because the screen was too small. The Archos 605 on the other hand could be hooked up to a TV (with the DVR station or other accessories--I bought the DVR station) which would allow me to watch downloaded TV shows and movies in comfort--and even better with other people (it's difficult to crowd around a computer desk to watch a movie) plus I'd be able to watch stuff on the go with its larger screen.



The wifi access web browser plug-in and PDF reader also helped sell me on the Archos 605. I particularly looked forward to being able to read ebooks in PDF format.



So when I ordered the Archos 605 I was thinking of it as an MP3 "with benefits."



When the Archos 605 arrived I found out that its screen was totally large enough to watch video comfortably. Shortly after I got it I watched two and a half seasons of Weeds on it. It's fantastic! I can carry a TV show into the kitchen to grab a snack etc. When I'm home alone I'm even able to rely on the built-in speaker--for TV shows I don't need fantastic sound quality; I just need to be able to hear what they're saying. It's very cool; I'm very addicted. :)



Like I said I bought the DVR station with it. I had wondered how a video file from the Archos would hold up enlarged on a TV screen but no worries--the picture quality is good (we have a 32" set). I've recorded some stuff from our TiVo onto the Archos and the picture quality is good in that direction too. Since we do have a TiVo I haven't used the Archos as a DVR (with the downloaded TV listings and scheduled recordings) so I can't say how easy that is to use but it's definitely easy to manually record something and I was happy to see that I could tell it how long to record for.



As an MP3 player it's not as good as the Zen simply because it's not primarily an MP3.



One way the Zen (and probably most other MP3 players) is a better MP3 player than the Archos is that if you power the Archos 605 off while you're playing music it doesn't automatically start up where you left off when you turn it back on. Instead you boot up to the main screen and then you have to tap the "resume" icon; otherwise nothing happens. In this way it's less "plug and go" than my Zen was; sometimes if I'm only going to be driving for a few minutes (like a hop from the grocery store to the gas station) I won't bother starting it up at all. Also the way you lock the controls takes a few seconds longer than the Zen did. With the Zen you just slid the switch to the lock position. With the Archos you hold down the TV button until the lock icon appears on the screen.



If you're playing from a playlist when you turn the unit off and then you hit "resume" after you turn it back on it doesn't seem to resume the playlist--it does indeed play the song you were on but it's playing it from the album instead of the playlist so the next song after that is the next song on the album not the next song on the playlist. Possibly this is glitch that will be fixed in a firmware update (or perhaps has been--I haven't updated my firmware in a couple weeks).



Finally changing the play mode (normal shuffle repeat one repeat all) takes a lot more navigating around than it did on the Zen. It really shouldn't take that many clicks.



Sound-wise the Archos is good as the Zen was and its drawbacks as an MP3 player aren't so onerous that I'd consider buying a separate MP3 player. The Archos does well enough.



The PDF reader however turned out to be a disappointment. First it takes several (loooong) seconds to go to the next page. Second there's no way to bookmark where you are so that you can pick up where you left off. I figured I could just remember what page I was on and use the Go To Page feature to get back to it but the Go To Page feature uses a slider which is nowhere near as quick as if they'd let me type in a page number and it takes a long freaking time for it to then load that page. Ugh. So this thing definitely hasn't replaced my Palm Tungsten for e-reading.



I haven't used the web browser or wireless much. It seemed pretty slow the times I have and there's no "tap feedback" in the Content Portal so when you tap on a link you often don't know whether the tap has registered or not because the screen stays the same while the Archos (slooooowly) downloads the data for the next screen. That's frustrating. The web wasn't as frustrating as the Content Portal; I just haven't had much of a need to use it.



Another downside is that there aren't any cases for it that will protect the unit while allowing you direct immediate access to it the way the skin I had for my Zen did. Instead it comes with a padded envelope-like case that you have to slip the unit completely out of if you want to use it. (To be fair it's much better than the cloth pouch that came with the Zen.) Leather case options are limited and all the ones I've seen require you to open the case in order to view the screen or access the navigation. The one from Archos won't even let you turn it off with the case closed which isn't very handy if you're listening to audio and want to shut it off quickly.



I don't know how many hours I'm getting out of my battery. I did listen to music for 10 hours on a recent road trip without it giving out on me but I didn't keep going to see how much more I could get out of it. I've also watched a couple hours of video without it running out of juice--and again I ended up dropping it in the DVR station (which charges it) before it did run out so all I can say about the battery is that it's lasting long enough for my needs.



Despite the caveats I've listed above I LOVE my Archos 605. I love being able to take TV shows and movies with me everywhere. I love that I can finally watch bootleg concerts and other stuff I've downloaded on the "big screen." It's easy to use. The DVR station is easy to use. The two work together seamlessly. The Archos holds a ton off stuff. It plays my music. It lets me browse the web if I need to.



I'm happy with it definitely. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future firmware updates will make me even happier with it.More detail ...

The Good and The Bad

The Good - Great audio quality. Controls well labeled and easy to use. Uses Standard mini USB connector. Screen is very bright and easy to read. Everything works as described. Pictures and video looks ok. Nice compact size. Dedicated volume buttons.



The Bad - The micro SD card does not integrate in with the memory in the player. When playing a song only the file name is displayed. No playlist support. No genre support. No lock button.



The Ugly - the mini USB connector does not plug all the way in. It goes in about half way and wobbles. It works but very poor design. The headphone is very difficult to remove from the jack. The micro SD card plugs into the player and leaves about 1/8 inch hanging out of the player. The exposed edge of the SD card snags on everything. No album art support.



The Strange - When you turn the player on with the on-off switch it does not come on. After turning the power switch on you must then press and hold the play-pause button. You can turn the player off by pressing and holding the play-pause button OR turning off the switch. Not sure what they had in mind here.



Conclusion - very decent hardware in need of some decent firmware. Very good value for the money.More detail ...

It's cool

Bought it because we wanted something other than a "single function" portable dvd player for our daughter(on road trips).. This thing is nice because we can put all sorts of media on it (video music and pics) it suits the whole family. She can watch shows/movies then when she passes out we can listen to music. It's very basic operationally easy to use. Great picture quality built in speaker is fairly decent. Headphones are the best bet for personal use. In the car i suggest an FM transmitter. There are a couple of apps you can download on the archos website that enable you to play all audio/video formats also you can use it as a dvr and record tv programs. 30gb is kinda small but it gives you plenty of space for music as long as you rotate your vids/movies....More detail ...

It's not perfect but I'm happy with it

I bought this to replace a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black) that had been stolen. I really liked my Zen but I wanted to see what new stuff had come out in the time since I bought it. This led me to getting the Archos 605 80GB instead mainly because of the optional TV hookups. I've never liked to watch movies or TV shows (or even music videos) on my PC monitor because I can't relax and enjoy something passive while I'm at my computer. I'd also never used the Zen's video capabilities much because the screen was too small. The Archos 605 on the other hand could be hooked up to a TV (with the DVR station or other accessories--I bought the DVR station) which would allow me to watch downloaded TV shows and movies in comfort--and even better with other people (it's difficult to crowd around a computer desk to watch a movie) plus I'd be able to watch stuff on the go with its larger screen.



The wifi access web browser plug-in and PDF reader also helped sell me on the Archos 605. I particularly looked forward to being able to read ebooks in PDF format.



So when I ordered the Archos 605 I was thinking of it as an MP3 "with benefits."



When the Archos 605 arrived I found out that its screen was totally large enough to watch video comfortably. Shortly after I got it I watched two and a half seasons of Weeds on it. It's fantastic! I can carry a TV show into the kitchen to grab a snack etc. When I'm home alone I'm even able to rely on the built-in speaker--for TV shows I don't need fantastic sound quality; I just need to be able to hear what they're saying. It's very cool; I'm very addicted. :)



Like I said I bought the DVR station with it. I had wondered how a video file from the Archos would hold up enlarged on a TV screen but no worries--the picture quality is good (we have a 32" set). I've recorded some stuff from our TiVo onto the Archos and the picture quality is good in that direction too. Since we do have a TiVo I haven't used the Archos as a DVR (with the downloaded TV listings and scheduled recordings) so I can't say how easy that is to use but it's definitely easy to manually record something and I was happy to see that I could tell it how long to record for.



As an MP3 player it's not as good as the Zen simply because it's not primarily an MP3.



One way the Zen (and probably most other MP3 players) is a better MP3 player than the Archos is that if you power the Archos 605 off while you're playing music it doesn't automatically start up where you left off when you turn it back on. Instead you boot up to the main screen and then you have to tap the "resume" icon; otherwise nothing happens. In this way it's less "plug and go" than my Zen was; sometimes if I'm only going to be driving for a few minutes (like a hop from the grocery store to the gas station) I won't bother starting it up at all. Also the way you lock the controls takes a few seconds longer than the Zen did. With the Zen you just slid the switch to the lock position. With the Archos you hold down the TV button until the lock icon appears on the screen.



If you're playing from a playlist when you turn the unit off and then you hit "resume" after you turn it back on it doesn't seem to resume the playlist--it does indeed play the song you were on but it's playing it from the album instead of the playlist so the next song after that is the next song on the album not the next song on the playlist. Possibly this is glitch that will be fixed in a firmware update (or perhaps has been--I haven't updated my firmware in a couple weeks).



Finally changing the play mode (normal shuffle repeat one repeat all) takes a lot more navigating around than it did on the Zen. It really shouldn't take that many clicks.



Sound-wise the Archos is good as the Zen was and its drawbacks as an MP3 player aren't so onerous that I'd consider buying a separate MP3 player. The Archos does well enough.



The PDF reader however turned out to be a disappointment. First it takes several (loooong) seconds to go to the next page. Second there's no way to bookmark where you are so that you can pick up where you left off. I figured I could just remember what page I was on and use the Go To Page feature to get back to it but the Go To Page feature uses a slider which is nowhere near as quick as if they'd let me type in a page number and it takes a long freaking time for it to then load that page. Ugh. So this thing definitely hasn't replaced my Palm Tungsten for e-reading.



I haven't used the web browser or wireless much. It seemed pretty slow the times I have and there's no "tap feedback" in the Content Portal so when you tap on a link you often don't know whether the tap has registered or not because the screen stays the same while the Archos (slooooowly) downloads the data for the next screen. That's frustrating. The web wasn't as frustrating as the Content Portal; I just haven't had much of a need to use it.



Another downside is that there aren't any cases for it that will protect the unit while allowing you direct immediate access to it the way the skin I had for my Zen did. Instead it comes with a padded envelope-like case that you have to slip the unit completely out of if you want to use it. (To be fair it's much better than the cloth pouch that came with the Zen.) Leather case options are limited and all the ones I've seen require you to open the case in order to view the screen or access the navigation. The one from Archos won't even let you turn it off with the case closed which isn't very handy if you're listening to audio and want to shut it off quickly.



I don't know how many hours I'm getting out of my battery. I did listen to music for 10 hours on a recent road trip without it giving out on me but I didn't keep going to see how much more I could get out of it. I've also watched a couple hours of video without it running out of juice--and again I ended up dropping it in the DVR station (which charges it) before it did run out so all I can say about the battery is that it's lasting long enough for my needs.



Despite the caveats I've listed above I LOVE my Archos 605. I love being able to take TV shows and movies with me everywhere. I love that I can finally watch bootleg concerts and other stuff I've downloaded on the "big screen." It's easy to use. The DVR station is easy to use. The two work together seamlessly. The Archos holds a ton off stuff. It plays my music. It lets me browse the web if I need to.



I'm happy with it definitely. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future firmware updates will make me even happier with it.More detail ...

Small package big value

I've only used my Clipper a couples times and I'm already very impressed. The drag-and-drop software makes it very easy to add music since I dont have to bother with installing any additional software. The buttons are large and well placed to make changing songs easy without looking. For the price its an exceptional deal. The only complaint I have is the headphones. The ear buds seem to be the wrong shape to stay in my ears. For this price though its easy enough to pick up an aftermarket pair thats more comfortable. You get quite a lot from the Clipper in a small package for a small price. I definiatly recommend this for music on the go.More detail ...

Comparison vs Archos 705

As an owner of both the new Archos 7 as well as last year's model (the 705) I wanted to provide some points of comparison between the two for anyone trying to decide whether to save some money on the older model. In general the two are very similar -- they provide essentially the same functionality although the new 7 includes a couple of new features (and includes for free some of the plugins that you had to pay for before with the 705).



Here's a quick rundown of the positive changes in the 7 vs the 705:



* Speed -- particularly of the web browser. The new 7 has a much faster CPU and renders web content at a much better pace (probably 3x the speed of the 705). Using the browser on the 705 was often painful except on pages that were geared to mobile devices. The 7 can handle even most complex pages without a problem. Since I use the device for browsing quite a bit this is a HUGE plus for the 7.



* Email -- The 7 includes a native email client that supports GMail Yahoo mail or any POP/IMAP server. It's very simple but usable. It's also free (i.e. not a plugin).



* Better screen -- The screen on the 7 definitely is crisper than that on the 705. And the colors are rendered more accurately (at least from my subjective point of view).



* Better responsiveness -- The touchscreen on the 7 is more responsive than on the 705. The increased sensitivity really helps the usability. That said people who use other touchscreen devices (e.g. iPhone) may find that the screen is still not as sensitive/responsive as other devices.



* Size -- although the screen is the same size between the 2 units the 7 is slightly shorter and thinner than the 705 (but not by much). The 7's glossy case does collect fingerprints rather quickly but that's purely an aesthetic issue.



Advantages of the 705 over the 7:



* Archos dropped the mini-USB plug that was used to connect the Archos to your computer. It now uses a proprietary connector for this purpose.



* They also dropped the USB host port from that came with the 705. The 7 includes the USB host capability but to use it you must purchase the DVR station or mini-dock add-ons. This was built-in directly in the 705 unit. This makes using the device to dump pictures from your digital camera more of a hassle as one more attachment must be carried just for this.



* They also dropped the video out connecter that was standard in the 705. Again to use this feature with the 7 you'll need the DVR station or mini-dock.



* No stylus or case included -- I've found that using my finger generally works fine but a stylus is still better/more accurate on the screen. Luckily the 705 came with 2 of them so I use the spare with my 7. As for the case you'll have to buy one from Archos to a third party if you want/need one.



Things I wish they would have improved:



* Weight -- this is one heavy device at nearly 1.5 lbs. Granted the size makes carrying it in a pocket prohibitive but the weight would do you in otherwise. Fine for a travel bag though and definitely much lighter than a laptop.



* Most plugins still not free -- The browser plugin and "web radio/tv" plugins are now free but to view many online videos and items ripped from DVD you'll need to plunk down extra $ for those plugins.



* Support for Flash 9 -- The Archos ostensibly ships with support for Flash 9 but what they don't tell you is that not all Flash 9.x versions are created equally. For example while most clips on YouTube work the version of Flash on the Archos does not support popular sites like Hulu. This for me is one of the largest disappointments of the Archos 7.



* No HD or 3G plugins available -- despite what the product description days the plugins that provides HD video thru the DVR dock (or mini-dock) and which support a 3G wireless connection thru a USB dongle do not actually exist. There's also a very good chance they never will. Archos is notorious for promoting features which are never delivered. If either of these plugins is critical in your decision to purchase the Archos 7 you would be best off waiting until they are released before making the purchase.



For me I use the 7/705 as a travel companion so I can watch videos browse the web and store digital pictures. For web use the 7 is a huge improvement. For videos the better screen is a nice improvement but for picture storage the lack of the built-in USB host port and the need to carry the mini-dock is a bummer.

More detail ...

It's not perfect but I'm happy with it

I bought this to replace a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black) that had been stolen. I really liked my Zen but I wanted to see what new stuff had come out in the time since I bought it. This led me to getting the Archos 605 80GB instead mainly because of the optional TV hookups. I've never liked to watch movies or TV shows (or even music videos) on my PC monitor because I can't relax and enjoy something passive while I'm at my computer. I'd also never used the Zen's video capabilities much because the screen was too small. The Archos 605 on the other hand could be hooked up to a TV (with the DVR station or other accessories--I bought the DVR station) which would allow me to watch downloaded TV shows and movies in comfort--and even better with other people (it's difficult to crowd around a computer desk to watch a movie) plus I'd be able to watch stuff on the go with its larger screen.



The wifi access web browser plug-in and PDF reader also helped sell me on the Archos 605. I particularly looked forward to being able to read ebooks in PDF format.



So when I ordered the Archos 605 I was thinking of it as an MP3 "with benefits."



When the Archos 605 arrived I found out that its screen was totally large enough to watch video comfortably. Shortly after I got it I watched two and a half seasons of Weeds on it. It's fantastic! I can carry a TV show into the kitchen to grab a snack etc. When I'm home alone I'm even able to rely on the built-in speaker--for TV shows I don't need fantastic sound quality; I just need to be able to hear what they're saying. It's very cool; I'm very addicted. :)



Like I said I bought the DVR station with it. I had wondered how a video file from the Archos would hold up enlarged on a TV screen but no worries--the picture quality is good (we have a 32" set). I've recorded some stuff from our TiVo onto the Archos and the picture quality is good in that direction too. Since we do have a TiVo I haven't used the Archos as a DVR (with the downloaded TV listings and scheduled recordings) so I can't say how easy that is to use but it's definitely easy to manually record something and I was happy to see that I could tell it how long to record for.



As an MP3 player it's not as good as the Zen simply because it's not primarily an MP3.



One way the Zen (and probably most other MP3 players) is a better MP3 player than the Archos is that if you power the Archos 605 off while you're playing music it doesn't automatically start up where you left off when you turn it back on. Instead you boot up to the main screen and then you have to tap the "resume" icon; otherwise nothing happens. In this way it's less "plug and go" than my Zen was; sometimes if I'm only going to be driving for a few minutes (like a hop from the grocery store to the gas station) I won't bother starting it up at all. Also the way you lock the controls takes a few seconds longer than the Zen did. With the Zen you just slid the switch to the lock position. With the Archos you hold down the TV button until the lock icon appears on the screen.



If you're playing from a playlist when you turn the unit off and then you hit "resume" after you turn it back on it doesn't seem to resume the playlist--it does indeed play the song you were on but it's playing it from the album instead of the playlist so the next song after that is the next song on the album not the next song on the playlist. Possibly this is glitch that will be fixed in a firmware update (or perhaps has been--I haven't updated my firmware in a couple weeks).



Finally changing the play mode (normal shuffle repeat one repeat all) takes a lot more navigating around than it did on the Zen. It really shouldn't take that many clicks.



Sound-wise the Archos is good as the Zen was and its drawbacks as an MP3 player aren't so onerous that I'd consider buying a separate MP3 player. The Archos does well enough.



The PDF reader however turned out to be a disappointment. First it takes several (loooong) seconds to go to the next page. Second there's no way to bookmark where you are so that you can pick up where you left off. I figured I could just remember what page I was on and use the Go To Page feature to get back to it but the Go To Page feature uses a slider which is nowhere near as quick as if they'd let me type in a page number and it takes a long freaking time for it to then load that page. Ugh. So this thing definitely hasn't replaced my Palm Tungsten for e-reading.



I haven't used the web browser or wireless much. It seemed pretty slow the times I have and there's no "tap feedback" in the Content Portal so when you tap on a link you often don't know whether the tap has registered or not because the screen stays the same while the Archos (slooooowly) downloads the data for the next screen. That's frustrating. The web wasn't as frustrating as the Content Portal; I just haven't had much of a need to use it.



Another downside is that there aren't any cases for it that will protect the unit while allowing you direct immediate access to it the way the skin I had for my Zen did. Instead it comes with a padded envelope-like case that you have to slip the unit completely out of if you want to use it. (To be fair it's much better than the cloth pouch that came with the Zen.) Leather case options are limited and all the ones I've seen require you to open the case in order to view the screen or access the navigation. The one from Archos won't even let you turn it off with the case closed which isn't very handy if you're listening to audio and want to shut it off quickly.



I don't know how many hours I'm getting out of my battery. I did listen to music for 10 hours on a recent road trip without it giving out on me but I didn't keep going to see how much more I could get out of it. I've also watched a couple hours of video without it running out of juice--and again I ended up dropping it in the DVR station (which charges it) before it did run out so all I can say about the battery is that it's lasting long enough for my needs.



Despite the caveats I've listed above I LOVE my Archos 605. I love being able to take TV shows and movies with me everywhere. I love that I can finally watch bootleg concerts and other stuff I've downloaded on the "big screen." It's easy to use. The DVR station is easy to use. The two work together seamlessly. The Archos holds a ton off stuff. It plays my music. It lets me browse the web if I need to.



I'm happy with it definitely. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future firmware updates will make me even happier with it.More detail ...

1st Impressions: big and beautiful!

I just got my new Android 5 500GB direct from Archos yesterday and its quite a beauty. I'm upgrading from my old Archos 5 250GB so that will be my primary point of comparison. I also have the following to compare to: iPod Touch 64GB Archos 605 Walkman X Samsung P2 and a host of other MP3 players large and small.



Given that my iPod Touch upgrade this year was less than astounding I pretty much figured that this upgrade for Archos would be similarly understated. Mainly I just wanted the extra hard drive so I could backup all my laptops onto my music player. I was wrong! The new Android version seems to have a whole new feel both in form factor and the new software. I had heard that Archos was having problems with the software but they seem to have ironed most of them out as of 1.1 firmware release. I did update my firmware immediately and the process was quite smooth.



I'm going to rate this player on my absolute scale. I will also be making notes on the value of the upgrade from my old Archos 5. Note: I mostly use this as a media center to play music and video; secondarily as a backup drive.



Let's get to it then these are the things I love about my new Android:



1) 500GB -- totally awesome amount of disk I can now put just about every digital file I own on the Archos.

2) Android interface -- the overall feel of the software interface has definitively improved with the integration of Android. Effects are crisper the esthetics are cleaner things seem to happen faster. I especially like how easy it is to access the most recently played song or video from the main screen pops up with a little thumbnail that you tap on and voila resumes right where you left off!

3) Apps -- with Android we now have access to some serious app selection. Of course nobody compares to the Apple App Store but this comes the closest.

4) Weight -- this actually feels lighter to me than my 250GB.

5) Dock/DVR -- this popped right into my old 5 DVR and started playing right away. I still think this is the best DVR/Player combination available of all the MP3 players.

6) Video/Hi Def -- of the players I have owned this has the best biggest and highest resolution screen.

7) Portrait/Landscape -- Archos has borrowed the iPhone trick of rotating the display according to orientation. I guess they have an accelerometer in there now I dunno. Still its fun to see this feature on an Archos. Its a lot easier to navigate playlists in portrait mode.

8) Easy and regular firmware updates -- with a WiFi connection the firmware updates are easily performed on the unit itself. That's the easiest system I've seen of all my players. One thing I've learned about Archos over the years they will put out a steady stream of firmware updates.

9) WMV/MTP mode-- very smooth interface to Windows for either Media Monkey or Windows Media Player.

10) Dedicated volume button -- power and volume buttons have been conveniently located onto the top edge. This is actually much easier to use when it is docked on the DVR (which is where mine spends most of its life!).

11) Sound quality is pretty good sounds great through my Klipsch speakers and seems to have more oomph than my other players.

12) WiFi/Browser -- has a good browser and WiFi connection has worked well for me. I think the keyboard is better than the Touch's although Safari is probably the slightly superior browser. The bigger screen also helps for browsing. Overall I'm inclined to give the Archos the top ranking for browsers.

13) I just discovered Twidroid one of many apps pre-loaded allows me to check my Twitter in a really nice format -- love it!

14) Portability -- well there's only so much portability that can be expected with a screen and hard drive this large. This new design is smoother and rounder so its a little more comfortable in a pocket. It is very easy to carry around as a handheld device fits nicely in my hand as I stroll about the house trying out all of the Android Apps! In any case this is not as portable as a Touch but I think its pretty good for a small computer -- which is basically what this is.

15) No extra plug ins needed (so far!). Always in the past I've laid out another $40 for additional Archos plugins to play iPod format music and other video formats. So far I haven't had to do that -- thank you Archos :)

16) Archos will stand behind their product. I've had to send in a couple of Archos units over the years and they have always been happy to either repair or replace the unit without quibbling about it as long as its under warranty. Note: it did take two weeks to get my unit back!

17) Multi threading: now I show my engineer/geek side. This baby can do a bunch of different stuff at the same time unlike the iPhone/Touch which can really only do one thing at a time. The Android can be doing other stuff while you are listening music. I love the little bar on the top that you can pull down and switch to any other task that is running.

18) Built-in kickstand very nice feature.

19) Stylus friendly touch screen -- sometimes you just get tired of trying to type a touchscreen keyboard with fat fingers! In general this is one of my favorite touch screens. Most of the other touch screens including iPod/iPhone are capacitance which means stylus won't work

20) Micro USB cable plug-in: finally a standardized USB plug and you can have it resting on its kickstand while plugged in :)



Given that the Archos tops the class in several categories and continues to be the best 500GB 5 inch screen player available I give it about a 4.7 stars out of 5 (round to 5). There are a few things I'm less than thrilled about:



1) External hard drive EXT3 -- as I understand it Archos changed to the EXT3 hard drive format for reasons of speed and reliability. The result for me is that I can no longer simply select hard drive MSC mode plug the Archos into a Windows machine and expect to access the drive. You have to install an Ext3 driver such as EXT2 IFS on your Windows PC. Once I did that I was able to access the hard drive and backup files to my hearts content.

2) The playlist interface didn't get much of an upgrade and its still kind of clunky. I want to simply tap my playlist and it starts playing. Often times I have to do a couple of extra taps to get the thing playing.

3) We lost the dedicated play button and removable battery a while back -- but I still miss them both! None of my favorite touch screen players has either of these features. I'm also missing the brown metallic color and the rubbery backside.

4) Finding a case for this baby is no easy trick. You're not going to find one at the local Best Buy I'm afraid. In the past I've resorted to ordering my Archos cases from European companies like I-nique and Noreve. This is generally true of any player that is not an iPod or a Zune.

5) As always with Archos you must remember that you are dealing with a French based company. This means that they don't always provide the best support/service/upgrades to us Americans.

6) Lets face it Archos is always playing catch up. Some of the new features aren't fully functional yet. I do have faith that Archos will fix all the little glitches with things like GPS over the course of the next 6 months. The Apps available are currently a bit limited. I expect this will improve over the coming months.

7) Keep in mind that this is not a unit for the faint of heart. This is more for the hobbyist who wants a cutting edge experience that may take some messing around to get it just the way you want it. If you want something easy that requires minimum effort then iPods are going to be more your cup of tea.



For me this is still the best player of its class -- that class being large hard drive big screen PMP players with other fun features. Android makes for some fun possibilities and overall I'm impressed with this as an upgrade. Once again if you don't mind a smaller screen and you love apps I suggest you get an iPod Touch. If what you care about most is sound quality you may want to get a Walkman X. For me those are your top 3 touch screen players it just depends on what you care about the most.



Note: 10-23-2009; I upgraded to firmware version 1.2.03 which fixes some App Browser and YouTube issues. Apps do seem happier now upgrade process was very smooth. Still happily listening to tunes for about 8 hours a day with no problems :)



Update 11-7-2009: I've been running version 1.2.15 with a host of bug fixes and the unit does seem more stable in general now. Wifi is working better and USB connection seems more reliable.



Update 11-23-2009: Upgrade to firmware v 1.3.07 -- a long list of bug fixes including a few improvements that I had hoped for to control the scanning of multimedia files/ ArcLibrary. Got an AppsLib update which seems to work more reliably. There seem to be a lot more apps available now (300 ish) in AppsLib. Just keeps getting better and better! Still is playing music day in and day out with no problems and I'm backing up 2 laptops worth of files onto my 5 IT.



Update 12-18-2009: I've been on firmware 1.4.16 for over a week now. Lots of little fixes seems even more stable now.



Update 2-11-2010: Firmware 1.7.33 (Android Donut) upgrade. The upgrade was a bit of work I ended up reformatting the drive and starting anew. However power saving seems to work a lot better and I haven't seen it reset itself for quite a while now. This seems to be the most solid release yet!More detail ...

Ho-hum

PROS:

Red looks cool.

Sound quality is not the best above average.

Equalizer.

Light enough to not weigh down shirt pocket.

CONS:

Seems hastily assembled

Sticky touchscreen. Poorly responsive even after many calibration.

Virtual wheel is a good concept but poorly executed.

Who still uses paper decals on mp3's or any gadgets for that matter at this day and age?

Crappy buds.

Power/lock slider switch fragile as a loose deciduous tooth.



First of this is not made to sit among the giants like ZuneHD iPod Touch 2ndG Cowon S9 Samsung P2 or Sony Walkman X Series so i didn't have high expectations when i preordered it last month. After all the old addage has always been true - that you get what you pay for. However receiving it 3 days ago and using it since was a major let down in spite of my consciously lowered expectations. The buds went to my drawer of useless cables. Then i find myself at times jabbing the screen with my finger if only to get it to respond. The virtual wheel takes some getting used to you'll find your screen display seemingly bunjee jumping up and down instead of scrolling smoothly. If you can look past these then you can have a toy that plays decent above average music.

The price has been dropping on this thing in just a matter of days since it's release. I won't be surprised to see it discounted to $50. Archos should have paid more attention to the quality of the 3 Vision especially now that they are getting more aggressive in the market with their new lines of MID 5's and the 9 that's coing out on the 22nd of this month. In fairness to ARCHOS they have a commendable tech support staff(i bought a plug-in from them for my 5).

Take it from this old man who likes to buy these toys. There are better players out there.



More detail ...

Comparison vs Archos 705

As an owner of both the new Archos 7 as well as last year's model (the 705) I wanted to provide some points of comparison between the two for anyone trying to decide whether to save some money on the older model. In general the two are very similar -- they provide essentially the same functionality although the new 7 includes a couple of new features (and includes for free some of the plugins that you had to pay for before with the 705).



Here's a quick rundown of the positive changes in the 7 vs the 705:



* Speed -- particularly of the web browser. The new 7 has a much faster CPU and renders web content at a much better pace (probably 3x the speed of the 705). Using the browser on the 705 was often painful except on pages that were geared to mobile devices. The 7 can handle even most complex pages without a problem. Since I use the device for browsing quite a bit this is a HUGE plus for the 7.



* Email -- The 7 includes a native email client that supports GMail Yahoo mail or any POP/IMAP server. It's very simple but usable. It's also free (i.e. not a plugin).



* Better screen -- The screen on the 7 definitely is crisper than that on the 705. And the colors are rendered more accurately (at least from my subjective point of view).



* Better responsiveness -- The touchscreen on the 7 is more responsive than on the 705. The increased sensitivity really helps the usability. That said people who use other touchscreen devices (e.g. iPhone) may find that the screen is still not as sensitive/responsive as other devices.



* Size -- although the screen is the same size between the 2 units the 7 is slightly shorter and thinner than the 705 (but not by much). The 7's glossy case does collect fingerprints rather quickly but that's purely an aesthetic issue.



Advantages of the 705 over the 7:



* Archos dropped the mini-USB plug that was used to connect the Archos to your computer. It now uses a proprietary connector for this purpose.



* They also dropped the USB host port from that came with the 705. The 7 includes the USB host capability but to use it you must purchase the DVR station or mini-dock add-ons. This was built-in directly in the 705 unit. This makes using the device to dump pictures from your digital camera more of a hassle as one more attachment must be carried just for this.



* They also dropped the video out connecter that was standard in the 705. Again to use this feature with the 7 you'll need the DVR station or mini-dock.



* No stylus or case included -- I've found that using my finger generally works fine but a stylus is still better/more accurate on the screen. Luckily the 705 came with 2 of them so I use the spare with my 7. As for the case you'll have to buy one from Archos to a third party if you want/need one.



Things I wish they would have improved:



* Weight -- this is one heavy device at nearly 1.5 lbs. Granted the size makes carrying it in a pocket prohibitive but the weight would do you in otherwise. Fine for a travel bag though and definitely much lighter than a laptop.



* Most plugins still not free -- The browser plugin and "web radio/tv" plugins are now free but to view many online videos and items ripped from DVD you'll need to plunk down extra $ for those plugins.



* Support for Flash 9 -- The Archos ostensibly ships with support for Flash 9 but what they don't tell you is that not all Flash 9.x versions are created equally. For example while most clips on YouTube work the version of Flash on the Archos does not support popular sites like Hulu. This for me is one of the largest disappointments of the Archos 7.



* No HD or 3G plugins available -- despite what the product description days the plugins that provides HD video thru the DVR dock (or mini-dock) and which support a 3G wireless connection thru a USB dongle do not actually exist. There's also a very good chance they never will. Archos is notorious for promoting features which are never delivered. If either of these plugins is critical in your decision to purchase the Archos 7 you would be best off waiting until they are released before making the purchase.



For me I use the 7/705 as a travel companion so I can watch videos browse the web and store digital pictures. For web use the 7 is a huge improvement. For videos the better screen is a nice improvement but for picture storage the lack of the built-in USB host port and the need to carry the mini-dock is a bummer.

More detail ...

1st Impressions: big and beautiful!

I just got my new Android 5 500GB direct from Archos yesterday and its quite a beauty. I'm upgrading from my old Archos 5 250GB so that will be my primary point of comparison. I also have the following to compare to: iPod Touch 64GB Archos 605 Walkman X Samsung P2 and a host of other MP3 players large and small.



Given that my iPod Touch upgrade this year was less than astounding I pretty much figured that this upgrade for Archos would be similarly understated. Mainly I just wanted the extra hard drive so I could backup all my laptops onto my music player. I was wrong! The new Android version seems to have a whole new feel both in form factor and the new software. I had heard that Archos was having problems with the software but they seem to have ironed most of them out as of 1.1 firmware release. I did update my firmware immediately and the process was quite smooth.



I'm going to rate this player on my absolute scale. I will also be making notes on the value of the upgrade from my old Archos 5. Note: I mostly use this as a media center to play music and video; secondarily as a backup drive.



Let's get to it then these are the things I love about my new Android:



1) 500GB -- totally awesome amount of disk I can now put just about every digital file I own on the Archos.

2) Android interface -- the overall feel of the software interface has definitively improved with the integration of Android. Effects are crisper the esthetics are cleaner things seem to happen faster. I especially like how easy it is to access the most recently played song or video from the main screen pops up with a little thumbnail that you tap on and voila resumes right where you left off!

3) Apps -- with Android we now have access to some serious app selection. Of course nobody compares to the Apple App Store but this comes the closest.

4) Weight -- this actually feels lighter to me than my 250GB.

5) Dock/DVR -- this popped right into my old 5 DVR and started playing right away. I still think this is the best DVR/Player combination available of all the MP3 players.

6) Video/Hi Def -- of the players I have owned this has the best biggest and highest resolution screen.

7) Portrait/Landscape -- Archos has borrowed the iPhone trick of rotating the display according to orientation. I guess they have an accelerometer in there now I dunno. Still its fun to see this feature on an Archos. Its a lot easier to navigate playlists in portrait mode.

8) Easy and regular firmware updates -- with a WiFi connection the firmware updates are easily performed on the unit itself. That's the easiest system I've seen of all my players. One thing I've learned about Archos over the years they will put out a steady stream of firmware updates.

9) WMV/MTP mode-- very smooth interface to Windows for either Media Monkey or Windows Media Player.

10) Dedicated volume button -- power and volume buttons have been conveniently located onto the top edge. This is actually much easier to use when it is docked on the DVR (which is where mine spends most of its life!).

11) Sound quality is pretty good sounds great through my Klipsch speakers and seems to have more oomph than my other players.

12) WiFi/Browser -- has a good browser and WiFi connection has worked well for me. I think the keyboard is better than the Touch's although Safari is probably the slightly superior browser. The bigger screen also helps for browsing. Overall I'm inclined to give the Archos the top ranking for browsers.

13) I just discovered Twidroid one of many apps pre-loaded allows me to check my Twitter in a really nice format -- love it!

14) Portability -- well there's only so much portability that can be expected with a screen and hard drive this large. This new design is smoother and rounder so its a little more comfortable in a pocket. It is very easy to carry around as a handheld device fits nicely in my hand as I stroll about the house trying out all of the Android Apps! In any case this is not as portable as a Touch but I think its pretty good for a small computer -- which is basically what this is.

15) No extra plug ins needed (so far!). Always in the past I've laid out another $40 for additional Archos plugins to play iPod format music and other video formats. So far I haven't had to do that -- thank you Archos :)

16) Archos will stand behind their product. I've had to send in a couple of Archos units over the years and they have always been happy to either repair or replace the unit without quibbling about it as long as its under warranty. Note: it did take two weeks to get my unit back!

17) Multi threading: now I show my engineer/geek side. This baby can do a bunch of different stuff at the same time unlike the iPhone/Touch which can really only do one thing at a time. The Android can be doing other stuff while you are listening music. I love the little bar on the top that you can pull down and switch to any other task that is running.

18) Built-in kickstand very nice feature.

19) Stylus friendly touch screen -- sometimes you just get tired of trying to type a touchscreen keyboard with fat fingers! In general this is one of my favorite touch screens. Most of the other touch screens including iPod/iPhone are capacitance which means stylus won't work

20) Micro USB cable plug-in: finally a standardized USB plug and you can have it resting on its kickstand while plugged in :)



Given that the Archos tops the class in several categories and continues to be the best 500GB 5 inch screen player available I give it about a 4.7 stars out of 5 (round to 5). There are a few things I'm less than thrilled about:



1) External hard drive EXT3 -- as I understand it Archos changed to the EXT3 hard drive format for reasons of speed and reliability. The result for me is that I can no longer simply select hard drive MSC mode plug the Archos into a Windows machine and expect to access the drive. You have to install an Ext3 driver such as EXT2 IFS on your Windows PC. Once I did that I was able to access the hard drive and backup files to my hearts content.

2) The playlist interface didn't get much of an upgrade and its still kind of clunky. I want to simply tap my playlist and it starts playing. Often times I have to do a couple of extra taps to get the thing playing.

3) We lost the dedicated play button and removable battery a while back -- but I still miss them both! None of my favorite touch screen players has either of these features. I'm also missing the brown metallic color and the rubbery backside.

4) Finding a case for this baby is no easy trick. You're not going to find one at the local Best Buy I'm afraid. In the past I've resorted to ordering my Archos cases from European companies like I-nique and Noreve. This is generally true of any player that is not an iPod or a Zune.

5) As always with Archos you must remember that you are dealing with a French based company. This means that they don't always provide the best support/service/upgrades to us Americans.

6) Lets face it Archos is always playing catch up. Some of the new features aren't fully functional yet. I do have faith that Archos will fix all the little glitches with things like GPS over the course of the next 6 months. The Apps available are currently a bit limited. I expect this will improve over the coming months.

7) Keep in mind that this is not a unit for the faint of heart. This is more for the hobbyist who wants a cutting edge experience that may take some messing around to get it just the way you want it. If you want something easy that requires minimum effort then iPods are going to be more your cup of tea.



For me this is still the best player of its class -- that class being large hard drive big screen PMP players with other fun features. Android makes for some fun possibilities and overall I'm impressed with this as an upgrade. Once again if you don't mind a smaller screen and you love apps I suggest you get an iPod Touch. If what you care about most is sound quality you may want to get a Walkman X. For me those are your top 3 touch screen players it just depends on what you care about the most.



Note: 10-23-2009; I upgraded to firmware version 1.2.03 which fixes some App Browser and YouTube issues. Apps do seem happier now upgrade process was very smooth. Still happily listening to tunes for about 8 hours a day with no problems :)



Update 11-7-2009: I've been running version 1.2.15 with a host of bug fixes and the unit does seem more stable in general now. Wifi is working better and USB connection seems more reliable.



Update 11-23-2009: Upgrade to firmware v 1.3.07 -- a long list of bug fixes including a few improvements that I had hoped for to control the scanning of multimedia files/ ArcLibrary. Got an AppsLib update which seems to work more reliably. There seem to be a lot more apps available now (300 ish) in AppsLib. Just keeps getting better and better! Still is playing music day in and day out with no problems and I'm backing up 2 laptops worth of files onto my 5 IT.



Update 12-18-2009: I've been on firmware 1.4.16 for over a week now. Lots of little fixes seems even more stable now.



Update 2-11-2010: Firmware 1.7.33 (Android Donut) upgrade. The upgrade was a bit of work I ended up reformatting the drive and starting anew. However power saving seems to work a lot better and I haven't seen it reset itself for quite a while now. This seems to be the most solid release yet!More detail ...

1st Impressions: big and beautiful!

I just got my new Android 5 500GB direct from Archos yesterday and its quite a beauty. I'm upgrading from my old Archos 5 250GB so that will be my primary point of comparison. I also have the following to compare to: iPod Touch 64GB Archos 605 Walkman X Samsung P2 and a host of other MP3 players large and small.



Given that my iPod Touch upgrade this year was less than astounding I pretty much figured that this upgrade for Archos would be similarly understated. Mainly I just wanted the extra hard drive so I could backup all my laptops onto my music player. I was wrong! The new Android version seems to have a whole new feel both in form factor and the new software. I had heard that Archos was having problems with the software but they seem to have ironed most of them out as of 1.1 firmware release. I did update my firmware immediately and the process was quite smooth.



I'm going to rate this player on my absolute scale. I will also be making notes on the value of the upgrade from my old Archos 5. Note: I mostly use this as a media center to play music and video; secondarily as a backup drive.



Let's get to it then these are the things I love about my new Android:



1) 500GB -- totally awesome amount of disk I can now put just about every digital file I own on the Archos.

2) Android interface -- the overall feel of the software interface has definitively improved with the integration of Android. Effects are crisper the esthetics are cleaner things seem to happen faster. I especially like how easy it is to access the most recently played song or video from the main screen pops up with a little thumbnail that you tap on and voila resumes right where you left off!

3) Apps -- with Android we now have access to some serious app selection. Of course nobody compares to the Apple App Store but this comes the closest.

4) Weight -- this actually feels lighter to me than my 250GB.

5) Dock/DVR -- this popped right into my old 5 DVR and started playing right away. I still think this is the best DVR/Player combination available of all the MP3 players.

6) Video/Hi Def -- of the players I have owned this has the best biggest and highest resolution screen.

7) Portrait/Landscape -- Archos has borrowed the iPhone trick of rotating the display according to orientation. I guess they have an accelerometer in there now I dunno. Still its fun to see this feature on an Archos. Its a lot easier to navigate playlists in portrait mode.

8) Easy and regular firmware updates -- with a WiFi connection the firmware updates are easily performed on the unit itself. That's the easiest system I've seen of all my players. One thing I've learned about Archos over the years they will put out a steady stream of firmware updates.

9) WMV/MTP mode-- very smooth interface to Windows for either Media Monkey or Windows Media Player.

10) Dedicated volume button -- power and volume buttons have been conveniently located onto the top edge. This is actually much easier to use when it is docked on the DVR (which is where mine spends most of its life!).

11) Sound quality is pretty good sounds great through my Klipsch speakers and seems to have more oomph than my other players.

12) WiFi/Browser -- has a good browser and WiFi connection has worked well for me. I think the keyboard is better than the Touch's although Safari is probably the slightly superior browser. The bigger screen also helps for browsing. Overall I'm inclined to give the Archos the top ranking for browsers.

13) I just discovered Twidroid one of many apps pre-loaded allows me to check my Twitter in a really nice format -- love it!

14) Portability -- well there's only so much portability that can be expected with a screen and hard drive this large. This new design is smoother and rounder so its a little more comfortable in a pocket. It is very easy to carry around as a handheld device fits nicely in my hand as I stroll about the house trying out all of the Android Apps! In any case this is not as portable as a Touch but I think its pretty good for a small computer -- which is basically what this is.

15) No extra plug ins needed (so far!). Always in the past I've laid out another $40 for additional Archos plugins to play iPod format music and other video formats. So far I haven't had to do that -- thank you Archos :)

16) Archos will stand behind their product. I've had to send in a couple of Archos units over the years and they have always been happy to either repair or replace the unit without quibbling about it as long as its under warranty. Note: it did take two weeks to get my unit back!

17) Multi threading: now I show my engineer/geek side. This baby can do a bunch of different stuff at the same time unlike the iPhone/Touch which can really only do one thing at a time. The Android can be doing other stuff while you are listening music. I love the little bar on the top that you can pull down and switch to any other task that is running.

18) Built-in kickstand very nice feature.

19) Stylus friendly touch screen -- sometimes you just get tired of trying to type a touchscreen keyboard with fat fingers! In general this is one of my favorite touch screens. Most of the other touch screens including iPod/iPhone are capacitance which means stylus won't work

20) Micro USB cable plug-in: finally a standardized USB plug and you can have it resting on its kickstand while plugged in :)



Given that the Archos tops the class in several categories and continues to be the best 500GB 5 inch screen player available I give it about a 4.7 stars out of 5 (round to 5). There are a few things I'm less than thrilled about:



1) External hard drive EXT3 -- as I understand it Archos changed to the EXT3 hard drive format for reasons of speed and reliability. The result for me is that I can no longer simply select hard drive MSC mode plug the Archos into a Windows machine and expect to access the drive. You have to install an Ext3 driver such as EXT2 IFS on your Windows PC. Once I did that I was able to access the hard drive and backup files to my hearts content.

2) The playlist interface didn't get much of an upgrade and its still kind of clunky. I want to simply tap my playlist and it starts playing. Often times I have to do a couple of extra taps to get the thing playing.

3) We lost the dedicated play button and removable battery a while back -- but I still miss them both! None of my favorite touch screen players has either of these features. I'm also missing the brown metallic color and the rubbery backside.

4) Finding a case for this baby is no easy trick. You're not going to find one at the local Best Buy I'm afraid. In the past I've resorted to ordering my Archos cases from European companies like I-nique and Noreve. This is generally true of any player that is not an iPod or a Zune.

5) As always with Archos you must remember that you are dealing with a French based company. This means that they don't always provide the best support/service/upgrades to us Americans.

6) Lets face it Archos is always playing catch up. Some of the new features aren't fully functional yet. I do have faith that Archos will fix all the little glitches with things like GPS over the course of the next 6 months. The Apps available are currently a bit limited. I expect this will improve over the coming months.

7) Keep in mind that this is not a unit for the faint of heart. This is more for the hobbyist who wants a cutting edge experience that may take some messing around to get it just the way you want it. If you want something easy that requires minimum effort then iPods are going to be more your cup of tea.



For me this is still the best player of its class -- that class being large hard drive big screen PMP players with other fun features. Android makes for some fun possibilities and overall I'm impressed with this as an upgrade. Once again if you don't mind a smaller screen and you love apps I suggest you get an iPod Touch. If what you care about most is sound quality you may want to get a Walkman X. For me those are your top 3 touch screen players it just depends on what you care about the most.



Note: 10-23-2009; I upgraded to firmware version 1.2.03 which fixes some App Browser and YouTube issues. Apps do seem happier now upgrade process was very smooth. Still happily listening to tunes for about 8 hours a day with no problems :)



Update 11-7-2009: I've been running version 1.2.15 with a host of bug fixes and the unit does seem more stable in general now. Wifi is working better and USB connection seems more reliable.



Update 11-23-2009: Upgrade to firmware v 1.3.07 -- a long list of bug fixes including a few improvements that I had hoped for to control the scanning of multimedia files/ ArcLibrary. Got an AppsLib update which seems to work more reliably. There seem to be a lot more apps available now (300 ish) in AppsLib. Just keeps getting better and better! Still is playing music day in and day out with no problems and I'm backing up 2 laptops worth of files onto my 5 IT.



Update 12-18-2009: I've been on firmware 1.4.16 for over a week now. Lots of little fixes seems even more stable now.



Update 2-11-2010: Firmware 1.7.33 (Android Donut) upgrade. The upgrade was a bit of work I ended up reformatting the drive and starting anew. However power saving seems to work a lot better and I haven't seen it reset itself for quite a while now. This seems to be the most solid release yet!More detail ...

Beautiful upgrade for an Archos 605 fan

I purchased this as an upgrade to my beloved Archos 605 160GB. I actually purchased this directly from archos because I had trouble getting it through Amazon.



First impressions: beautiful sleek design love the rubbery backside and the enlarged screen! I find that the touch screen user interface is quite improved over the 605 the buttons all flash when you press them so that is a nice confirmation that you hit it. Also play buttons and such seem to be bigger than before easier to hit. Although the glossy shiny look is pretty to look at it also shows fingerprints (much like the Touch). Not a big deal to me I'm used to wiping off my glossy surfaces regularly.



So lets get into the nitty gritty starting with the things I love about the new Archos 5. Just one caveat I am using this primarily as a replacement media player for the Archos 605 so I won't speak much to internet browsing issues. I will use as a basis of comparison my collection of MP3 players (ok I'm an addict so sue me!) which includes iPod Touch 2nd Gen 32GB Creative Zen WiFi 16GB iPod Classic 160GB Archos 605 160GB Archos 604 30GB iRiver Clix2 8GB.



*) 250GB: gotta love all that storage space especially since the new Apple Classic tops out at 120GB now it seems Archos is in a class all to itself.

*) Big beautiful glossy color screen definitely an improvement over 605.

*) Easily connected to my Wifi browser is now free instead of costing extra like before. Upgrade to firmware was accomplished easily.

*) Easy synchronization of my entire music library and playlists using Media Monkey in Windows Media Mode (605 had problems here so glad Archos fixed this!)

*) Beautiful full featured DVR dock available (apple doesn't even make one as far as I can tell!)

*) Esthetically the most appealing player I've seen yet from Archos.

*) Nice context menus on most pages (tap upper right corner) that make it easy to get around.

*) Love the ability to switch between hard drive mode and Windows Media Mode (something I do quite frequently). Also nice to be able to put a password on folders with sensitive or Adult content.

*) Ability to play all kinds of audio/video files although you do have to pay up to $40 for additional plugin firmware in order to play apple and cinema formats.

*) On screen touch qwerty keyboard is really nice easy to use -- I found it much easier to type accurately than the Touch/iPhone onscreen keyboard.

*) Browser supports flash controls woohoo welcome to the 21st century fercrissakes!

*) That 250GB of data is readily available to the PC as a hard drive so I can use it for backups or whatever else I want to do with it. (unlike the Creative Zen for example).

*) Convenient built-in speaker can be used in a pinch: everybody seems to have one of these now but as far as I can tell Archos did it first on the 605!

*) Now Playing music screen is easier to use volume and play buttons are easier to use now and it displays the name of the next and previous songs: a feature that I don't see on any of my other MP3 players.

*) Nice dedicated volume and power buttons the volume buttons are definitely easier to find and use than the 605.



And now my suggestions to Archos for how they could improve on what I think is a cutting edge beautiful product. Please understand I'm a nitpicking software engineer so I give 5 stars even though I can find room for improvement!



*) I miss the dedicated hold/tv-out button which has been removed. Not a big deal since can still be done through the context menu.

*) Some of the text menus just look a little strange and seem to take a too much space on the screen. For example I have to scroll down to get to the "Playlists"... at the very least "Playlists" should be on the first page as its the one I use the most. Really it seems like too many button presses are required to dig down and play a playlist I wish "playlists" was available from a top level menu because I use it more than anything else...





When all is said and done I honestly believe that there is no comparable product with a big beautiful high resolution screen like this and a huge hard drive. This is it!



Now if you are happy with a smaller screen and less storage the iPod Touch is arguably a better product: my solution? Buy one of each!



Update 12-31-2008: As of New Years Eve I am still quite happily using my Archos 5 as an entertainment center. It seems Archos heard me and they have made the album art a little bigger in firmware release 1.2.05!



Update 1-24-2009: Firmware update 1.3.05 works great! Had to use my Touch for a few days and very happy to have my Archos back on the speakers I do believe the sound is better through the same speakers.



Update 3-14-2009: Updated to firmware 1.5.08. Due to previous upgrade the upgrade process is MUCH easier now because it doesn't try to rebuild its library from scratch (this takes hours when you have a lot of files like I do). I'm also enjoying the "parental control" password which allows me to protect my data from unauthorized access. Still a happy customer :)



Update 5-22-2009: Still very happy with my 5. Firmware version 1.6.53 now offers support for their GPS package and High Def. I tried the GPS package before and it was ok my favorite thing about it was the windshield mount which really comes in handy on a long drive. The GPS itself is decent considering it doesn't cost much but can't compare to Garmin. Still how many MP3 players even offer a GPS option?More detail ...