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I have an Archos Gmini400 (now updated to Gmini402) which does music, photo, video and games for the same size and weight of an iPod (at this time, the iPod Photo was still unknown...). I have to admit the UI is far from perfect and that the games suck as phones' games. But, seriously the rest is cool. And the AVout to show pictures or movies is perfect when I travel and want to show my far-away home to the family.

You may want to check the other products from Archos like the AV500 which can record your TV signal, or the AV700, for its big wide screen.

I have an Archos Gmini400 (now updated to Gmini402) which does music, photo, video and games for the same size and weight of an iPod (at this time, the iPod Photo was still unknown...). I have to admit the UI is far from perfect and that the games suck as phones' games. But, seriously the rest is cool. And the AVout to show pictures or movies is perfect when I travel and want to show my far-away home to the family.

You may want to check the other products from Archos like the AV500 which can record your TV signal, or the AV700, for its big wide screen.

There are several products that do this from the Creative PMC and Vision:

Http://us.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?catego ry=210

To the Archos video players:

http://www.archos.com/

As good Slashdot and Digg readers, we know that word on the street is to expect an iPod Video model to debut sometime perfect for the Christmas 2005 holiday buying season.

I was actually pretty unhappy with Archos's Gmini 220, but their portable video recorders look great. And their Jukebox Recorder beats the pants off of the iPod, once you install Rockbox on it. If only these guys would release a similar OS for the Gmini... it would become the best mp3 player evar.

As good Slashdot and Digg readers, we know that word on the street is to expect an iPod Video model to debut sometime perfect for the Christmas 2005 holiday buying season.

I was actually pretty unhappy with Archos's Gmini 220, but their portable video recorders look great. And their Jukebox Recorder beats the pants off of the iPod, once you install Rockbox on it. If only these guys would release a similar OS for the Gmini... it would become the best mp3 player evar.

also the Archos PMA 400, usb/mp3/mpg/divX/Xvid mplayer etc uses Linux and has an SDK so hack away

Do you mean the PMA 400? That thing is totally sweet. You can download an SDK for it, too.

Do you mean the PMA 400? That thing is totally sweet. You can download an SDK for it, too.

http://www.archos.com/products/fam_photo_video.htm l

http://www.archos.com/products/overview/av700_seri es.html?sid=j22324yfbykk4k3b42jk4y

Ipod isnt the end-all by any means. I for one have my eye on anything archos, like : http://www.archos.com/products/overview/av700_tech _specs.html The 40 gig AV700, with full video recording and playback and built in lcd. Archos has been around WAY longer than ipod and their products are SOLID and accessories are generic (read, not $50 each). People jump on ipod because its apple, and that's all. Its about the same when you try to describe to a mac user how they're wasting their time with their computer :P

http://www.archos.com/

I can already play video to tv from a "portable music player"

Color me unimpressed.

I've had my Gmini 400 for almost a year now. The screen is pretty small, but I watch movies/tv shows on it whenever I take trips. It's small but it's more than watchable. It plays Xvid/Divx. It's also an mp3 player. Has 20gb total memory and is the size of an iPod (a couple of centimeters smaller).

Damn, this almost reads like an ad. Here's a link.

Or the Gmini XS200 for only 189.00 (w/o shipping). 20gb sure beats 1...

That with a third-party operating system, it's not that bad.

2.3" X .7" X 2.9" (5.9cm X 1.9cm X 7.6cm)

Why would anyone want this new model instead of the existing Archos AV4100:
http://www.archos.com/products/prw_500697_specs.ht ml
which also has 100GB, is similarly priced, also records from TV, is smaller, weighs less, and has better resolution:
"DVD playback is full DVD resolution up to 704x480; recording is standard TV resolution, up to 512x384 (SVCD)." according to:
http://www.photographyblog.com/index.php/weblog/co mments/archos_av4100_portable_video_recorder_playe r_announced/

The only advantage of the new 700 model seems to be that the screen is bigger, but the price is size and weight that make it significantly less appropriate to also use as an mp3 audio device.

Up to 30 hours for music. (TBC)
Up to 4 hours for video on built-in LCD. (TBC)
Removable battery (additional battery optional)

The Archos PMA480 http://www.archos.com/products/overview/pma_400.ht ml?sid=j2232s23by4oy2kbocfyjy is a even better device. Plays video at 704x480, plays the same games, records from TV, has 802.11B, runs on linux, includes Opera, weighs LESS than a PSP, and costs $799. Admittedly, it has a smaller hardrive but that's easy to fix. I don't like the touchscreen keyboard but you have to give up something.

I own an Archos Gmini 200 and love it. The 20GB model was cheaper and physically smaller than the 20GB model iPod, and it works nearly as well. The only reasons I'd ever really want an iPod is 1) if I suddenly developed a fear of being considered un-trendy and 2) for that touch wheel! The Gmini has a nice music library and everything, but it is sometimes a pain to scroll through it (you have to hold the little nub down and wait for it to accelerate).

Lacking the easy scrolling is not a tragedy, but not having access to my large collection of wma files is. Yea, I know.. slaughter me for using wma over mp3 or ogg, but all of my legally owned music is ripped into variable bit rate wma files which sound great and are smaller than Mp3s.

I can't really see the addition of Syrius to the iPod really giving me or anyone else a reason to switch if they can deal with my two points mentioned above. People with large HD mp3 players have lots of their own music. Maybe if you could press a button and download a song off the satellite (and then actually manage to get them off of your iPod)....

See, for example, the PMA400.

It is open source, linux based, has a 30gb hd, and has many other goodies.

But it is still nice to see that a large company like nokia is offering such a product. It will definitely help to spread linux :)

* P2-266M laptop runs XP (SP1a to avoid 'Event ID 4226') - Internet gateway, firewall & network AV montoring.
* P4 1.7G tower runs SuSE - general PC, file server, 24/7 P2P slave ;)
* Centrino 2G lappy runs XPSP2/SuSE - The every-day PC.
* Ethernet enabled standalone DVD/MP3/MPEG4 player - A cheap & cheerful CD/DVD/LAN based media player
* Not to forget my PS2 ;)

All does me proud... Archos's new touch screen, WiFi, Linux based PMA400 PVR looks as if it could be a cool edition to the home media network.

There are plenty of alternatives. I bought a atiny 20GB Archos Gmini for under $199.

You'd be better off with a wifi hotspot and one of these.

Sure, it's expensive, but you could store a load of photos on it whilst in the field, then upload them over rsync to a machine back home when you reach the nearest wifi hotspot.

If you don't care about a nice colour screen or the ability to play video consider an Archos Gmini 220 or 120. They can play MP3 and WMA files, record MP3 files and copy files from a CompactFlash card. If you want to read other flash formats you can get a fairly inexpensive adapter. The 220 can display JPEGs but the monochrome LCD sucks. The 220 is under $200 US and the 120 is even cheaper.

If you don't care about a nice colour screen or the ability to play video consider an Archos Gmini 220 or 120. They can play MP3 and WMA files, record MP3 files and copy files from a CompactFlash card. If you want to read other flash formats you can get a fairly inexpensive adapter. The 220 can display JPEGs but the monochrome LCD sucks. The 220 is under $200 US and the 120 is even cheaper.

I often use my MD player to record live DJ sets of myself and friends when we play out. Does anyone make a portable flash recorder that has line inputs? I know my Creative Muvo records, but only through the microphone at terrible quality. Many friends of mine who are also DJs now just bring along a tiny laptop and record continuously to the HD.

For long recordings, you're probably better of with a hard drive-based player. The Archos GMini 220 will record from a line-level source and encode into MP3 format on-the-fly. For info on recording, check section 4.4 of the product manual.

I often use my MD player to record live DJ sets of myself and friends when we play out. Does anyone make a portable flash recorder that has line inputs? I know my Creative Muvo records, but only through the microphone at terrible quality. Many friends of mine who are also DJs now just bring along a tiny laptop and record continuously to the HD.

For long recordings, you're probably better of with a hard drive-based player. The Archos GMini 220 will record from a line-level source and encode into MP3 format on-the-fly. For info on recording, check section 4.4 of the product manual.

Archos Gmini xs 200 is just what you are looking for.Has everything that you need and is incredibly small(smaller than a mini).I've owned it for a month and just love it.It holds 20 gigs but is smaller that most of the 5 gig players.

Archos music players satisfy these requirements for the most part. The only one I'm not totally sure about is number 4, though I'd probably still buy from Archos again. Some Archos MP3 players even have open source firmware which you can use instead.

Check it out: http://www.archos.com/products/overview/pma_400.ht ml

They talk about scheduling recordings. Sadly, I have little use for portable TV right now, but if I did I'd be all over this mo-fo. I've actually thought about replacing my aging Replay with it solely because it can be hooked up to a TV. No more fighting with the GF over the livingroom TV.

... for less than $200.

Archos Gmini

a quaint relic of the 20th century

seriously the PDA is redundant now we have cell media devices

thats what i thought, my p910 does all that thing does and more touchscreen or stylus, personally ive been filling train journeys watching rips of my dvd's (shrunken down of course) on my phone, or i carry a couple of albums on the mem sticks, when we get this on our phones which should be soon if Sonys current mp3 push is anything to go by (AAPL stock fell 5% this week) then its gonna get interesting (and yes it runs linux:)

I've got not only a one hour train commute, but also an Archos AV400.

I'm an American finance geek living in London, so every morning my handheld PVR records the overnite BBC Business News at 3:45AM. I watch the 45 news broadcast while I'm headed to work at 5:51AM damn early in the morning!

I get a lot of utility out of time shifting the BBC, and would dump my iPod(s) (3G 20GB, 1GB Shuffle) in a heartbeat if my Archos (it also plays MP3's with cover art) matched half my iPods battery life. At present I get three hours tops.

I own ten Mac's (two G3 iMacs, a ClamShell iBook, two SEs, a MacTV, a PowerMac 5500/275, a G4 TiBook, a 15" G4 PowerBook, a G4 Cube) and still use the OS X capable machines daily. Even though I grok Apple deeply, they'd better put together a PVR solution ASAP.

It's their market to lose. I only own two iPaqs because my Newtons were getting long in the tooth.

Apple products seem somewhat overpriced to me. I recently bought a tiny 20GB Archons Gmini for about $200 and am very happy with it.

Excellent sound, lots of space and low price. My kind of deal.

Ipod is overpriced, thought the same one could tell about all Apple's products.

You can buy a tiny Archos 20GB mp3 player for about $200. Save yourself some money.

Have a look a the Archos PMA 400. It's a 30M disk-based player with a 320x240 screen, a long battery life, and the ability to record audio and video. It has USB device and master connectivity and WiFi. And it runs Linux and has lots of software available for it. What more do you want?

So, why pirate?

Movies are out of print, they don't sell them in your artificially imposed region of the world, they don't sell the version you want in your artificially imposed region of the world, just to name 3 examples.

It's not about pirating. I just bought a Gmini and I want to watch my movies on it. I want to copy my movies onto my Thinkpad X31, which doesn't have a built-in DVD player, so I can watch them on the plane. I want to back up my DVDs so that when I take them over to my friend's house and his 3 year old decides to take a screwdriver to them, I don't lose my original.

And you know what, I shouldn't even have to justify _why_ I make a copy of my movie--I'm not breaking any laws, and for a company to treat me, a private citizen who is as innocent as the driven snow, and a potential customer (i.e. someone who MIGHT GIVE THEM MONEY) to boot, as a criminal and someone to be, ohmygosh, prevented from, goodness, doing bad things, because I might just, is the ultimate pinnacle of insolence.

... buy a Archos Gmini XS-200 instead. It has 20GB HD, fits in your palm, has no DRM and sells for around $200. Great sound too.

By buying products with DRM you are actually paying fees to MS thus helping MS to spread DRM. Instead, invest the money into a bigger HD, I'd suggest.

I predict that they will be releasing the gmini in the near future

I predict that they never will, since Gmini is a product sold by these guys

Well, have you seen this? http://www.archos.com/products/overview/gmini_400. html

This is interesting...

I've been thinking of purchasing an Archos Gmini 220 not for playing music, but for it's small size and for the ability to unload photos off my CF card while in the field. Should I avoid everything archos, or is the 220 a quality product?

Thanks.

The Innoplus PhotoTainer also does this, plus it runs Linux.

All of these can be used as MP3 players. Some can even play video. The Archos Gmini 120 would be the most economical choice.

The Innoplus PhotoTainer also does this, plus it runs Linux.

All of these can be used as MP3 players. Some can even play video. The Archos Gmini 120 would be the most economical choice.

As far as I'm concerned, the Archos Gmini 400 IS an iPod killer.

-20gb
-Colour screen
-MP3, WAV, WMV playback
-Line in for recording (or built-in mic)

Oh yes... Did I mention it's also about the same size as an iPod, can play video (divx/xvid at up to 640x400), either sized-down for the internal screen, or via a video-out on it to hook to your TV that you can also use to view photos, or play games (yes, you can load games onto it too).

It also has a built-in CF interface for transferring photos from a CF-equipped camera to the HD for storage/offloading.

Gmini 400

If I was buying a HD player, it's where my money would be as a consumer.

N.

Personally, I disagree. I just got an Archos AV400 (80GB) for Xmas and I can't say that I would appreciate anything less.

Right now I have 6 TV episodes on there (all recorded from Tivo for playback on the plane tomorrow) and I'm currently recording Star Wars DVD trilogy to it for the same thing.

I have my entire music collection on there along with a backup of my "important" files from my network and I'm still at 45GB remaining.

Yeah, the battery life probably isn't the best (I get about 12 hours out of it playing MP3s all day long). I don't know what it will be like with video going but hopefully long enough to last the 2.5 hour flight from MSP to CVG...

I consider myself to have a "small" music collection at a little over 5GB of MP3s (as it doesn't seem to play SHN/FLAC so I can't add those into the total) and those are "must haves". I certainly wouldn't want to have any less than that.

5GB just doesn't seem like enough to me.

I've got both a third gen 20GB iPod, and an Archos AV400 PVR.

I use the iPod solely for music, and the Archos solely for video. If Archos ever got their act together and shrunk the device even a little, integrated a remote and smartened up the sw then I'd drop the iPod in a hearbeat.

I've got a one hour long commute each way. For me that is nothing more productive then watching the overnite market news instead of listening to music. I haven't messed about much with movies and such, but for catching up on the news the Archos can't be beat!

At least until Apple enters that market.

1Gig on the phone, (mostly 15fps converted xvid moveis, mp3's and video capture from the phone)
1Gb on the Istick USB Drive in my wallet
(DSLinux/Qemu, all my pgp keys/apps, a blowfish encrypted iso drive, lastes win SP, spyware remover, antivirus, boot disk iso's)
40GB on the ipod, (lots and lots and lots and lots of music)

Having several full length movies on the cell is just far too useful for waiting on oil changes, mva work, doctors offices.

The Mp3's play in the car and at my desk. It's not unlike carrying around a binder of CD's which a lot of people did before the mp3 days. I don't think carrying a binder of music CD's was ever considered hoarding even if you had 100 discs on you.

If you wanted to stop there, is that really hoarding? You're carring around entertainment. If so people have been hoarding for a long long time and who are we to break tracdition? Would it be any different if you were listening to the radio or watching a portable tv? It could deliver the same content you're just accessing remotely.

Now the crypt data and linux distro has a use in my daily life..ok weekly life.. but I'm willing to grant that's hoarding. But that's also well out of the scope of the article.

When it became feasable to store a few thousand characterd in a magnetic strip, Drivers licenses (some states) and credit cards jumped on the bandwagon. When smartchips appeared on the scene, the financial community was in a rush to embed them in thier credit cards. It's now feasable to carry a small harddrive and battery with you. If a couple of gigs of portable music freak these guys out, just wait till 80GB video players become mainstream.

Except for the camera bit, you've pretty much exactly described the Archos Gmini 400 - almost exactly the same size and weight as the 20GB iPod, but with a color screen, video/photo support, TV-out, and the Mophun system, all for about 50 dollars more. The Gmini 400 seems to me to be the future of iPod competition - rather than try to compete on more-or-less equal footing with the iPod, like Creative seems determined to do with its players, the Gmini 400 instead focuses on all kinds of stuff which the iPod can't do. Creative will never come up with a player that matches the simplicity and ease of use of the iPod, so why not take a page out of Archos' book and not even bother trying?

it would be a correct mod, you are trolling.

look, you want a card reader? fine, there it is. but to make it built in would be ludicrous. if they did put one in, it would probably not be the card of your preference, so adding even more slots would increase the bulk (and price) on the ipod. secondly, it's a (repeat after me) MUSIC PLAYER. yes, it can be used as a portable hard drive, but that's a niche market compared to its overall first use, bringing music to your ears.

as for movies, nobody wants to walk before they can run around here. if they had added quicktime movie playback, everybody would be up in arms about why battery life sucks more than it already does. it only gets 5 hours of battery life as it is with STILL images! if you want a portable movie player now, these people can help you. although i doubt you'll like what they have, since again the card reader is an attachment and not built-in.

Geesh. Why not just print all the frames out onto paper and make a flipbook?

If you want a video player in an iPod's form factor, either sit tight for 2 years until a honest-to-goodness Video iPod to come out, or buy a Gmini 200 (Flash page).

I chose the latter and haven't looked back.