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Archos has various accessoris that let you transfer files from a CF card to one of their very portable hard drives that also play mp3s and mpeg4 video.

Archos has various accessoris that let you transfer files from a CF card to one of their very portable hard drives that also play mp3s and mpeg4 video.

In device manager in Windows I could even enable or disable write caching on it. Perhaps the ISD200 (USB to IDE bridge IC) drivers did something right.

This is the iPod killer. For pretty much the same price, it plays mp3s and it also plays divx, xvid, and it has its own screen to play it on. And it's only twice the thickness. (Did I mention it was almost the same price as a 20 gig ipod?)

ARchos

...Treos and Archos Jukeboxes for substance.

And actually, for all of the Apple community's masturbatory self-petting, I just don't get it. To me, style is more than chrome and colors.

1. I find it decidedly UN-sexy to be chained to a gagillion nerd boxes. Give me my feature-packed calendar, awesome phone-homer, excellent portable gamer, 512 MB SD card-toting, OGG/MP3 playing, keyboard wielding, 70 kbps always-on Internetting, pocket-fitting Treo 600 for most of the hours in most of my days.

2. When I make the ergonomic investment to tote around a decent quantity of tunes, I want a decent device. I might even pay, =GASP=, $300 for it! But the thing should kick ass. Like my speedy Archos Jukebox running the sweet Open Source Rockbox OS.

Expensive, proprietary, no-feature iPod?! Hahahahahaha....

Archos and Rockbox, slashdotted before, by the way.

I'm not so sure about that. I was able to buy an Archos Jukebox with a 6GB Toshiba drive for about $260. Are you telling me that wither the 5GB drives cost more than 6GB, or that Archos was taking a $140 loss on every sale?

Face it, the iPod was higher priced like all of Apple's products. You may get what you pay for, but it's still more expensive.

• Built-in FM Tuner: the Archos doesn't have one and I enjoy listening to Lex & Terry in the mornings;
• Portability: my Archos is big &amp heavy, although it didn't feel like that two years ago when I got it ;) These would easily fit in your pocket. And I don't really need 6GB of music with me everywhere I go - 256MB would be just fine;
• Battery life: When using new rechargeables, I can get 8 hours with my jukebox but after awhile, it goes down to 3. These take a standard AA battery and can play up to 24 hours (claimed);
• USB Flash Drive: these flash players and my Archos can function as USB hard drives but it's not very often I need to transfer more than 256MB.

All that said, the two reasons why I haven't bought one yet are price and USB 1.1. While the 128MB models can be had for $99, the 256MB are usually priced from $150 - $200. For that much money, I can save a little longer and get the iHP-120 HDD player which has everything I want (20GB, FM tuner, reduced form-factor, battery, USB 2.0). And believe me, there is a phenonemal difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0 when transferring files. Just my thoughts.

I just thought I'd write in with my personal experience with another MP3 device, the Archos Jukebox Studio 20. Now, don't think I'm trolling on an "Apple Sucks, Archos Rocks" trip, because I'm not. If I had the money, I'd definitely get myself an iPod, as the on-device interface thoroughly kicks the ass of my 2-line text display (although much love goes out to the hackers at Rockbox for making the Jukebox orders of magnitude more elegant and usable), and a firewire connection is certainly prefferable to USB 1.1 (and it is my understanding that both devices are now supported in Linux, so there you go).

With all of that said, I have to say that Archos' support has been first class. I'll be honest, I used to charge my Jukebox in a rather precarious position. It was prone to getting its cord yanked, and thus falling several feet to the floor. Amazingly, the unit survived this punishment many times. After about 18 months, however (interesting timeframe, eh?), the hard drive began failing. Bad sectors and the like. I called up Archos, who were content with nothing more than my confirmation page from Thinkgeek as a reciept, and gladly replaced my harddrive (for all I know they sent me a new unit, actually) for FREE. Since that time (which was the summer before last), I've continued using the Jukebox with no ill effects (although I learned my lesson to be more gentle with it).

I just thought I'd write in with my personal experience with another MP3 device, the Archos Jukebox Studio 20. Now, don't think I'm trolling on an "Apple Sucks, Archos Rocks" trip, because I'm not. If I had the money, I'd definitely get myself an iPod, as the on-device interface thoroughly kicks the ass of my 2-line text display (although much love goes out to the hackers at Rockbox for making the Jukebox orders of magnitude more elegant and usable), and a firewire connection is certainly prefferable to USB 1.1 (and it is my understanding that both devices are now supported in Linux, so there you go).

With all of that said, I have to say that Archos' support has been first class. I'll be honest, I used to charge my Jukebox in a rather precarious position. It was prone to getting its cord yanked, and thus falling several feet to the floor. Amazingly, the unit survived this punishment many times. After about 18 months, however (interesting timeframe, eh?), the hard drive began failing. Bad sectors and the like. I called up Archos, who were content with nothing more than my confirmation page from Thinkgeek as a reciept, and gladly replaced my harddrive (for all I know they sent me a new unit, actually) for FREE. Since that time (which was the summer before last), I've continued using the Jukebox with no ill effects (although I learned my lesson to be more gentle with it).

A LED flashlight that will knock their Christmas stockings off. MAME fans will want an arcade joystick. Or if they prefer their classic gaming fun on the go, a portable SNES/NES/2600. Some others have mentioned Leatherman tools. From Thinkgeek, an LED binary clock. How about an Archos media player? Probably not geeky, but something weird like this a magic tree. Or lastly, and perhaps not least, a very affordable Shortwave radio for $10.

A hilarious side effect of this law is that you can now block news reporters from filming you at all. Simply film a few minutes of footage of your cat, the traffic, or a blank wall. Purchase a portable video players, such as the Archos AV300. Walk around in public holding the video player in the air for all to see while looping your recording. You own the rights to the recording, but you have not granted the rights to operate recording gear to anyone in your proximity.

You have now made it illegal for anyone to film you. Interestingly, you may be able to carry this device into a bank, government office, etc., and require that they turn off their security cameras as well, lest they are in violation of the law.

6. You don't want to use 3rd party software to manage files.

Although it has major other faults, the Archos jukebox has one selling point - No third-party software is necessary to upload and download files. It's just a hard drive that plays mp3s (and other stuff in later models). You can load and unload mp3s from it using Explorer, or mount it in Linux. Copy your mp3s just like any other files and play them. There is no necessary uploading software and no download controls. It's fully linux-compatible.

When I was researching MP3 players last May, this was a big selling point of the Archos.

• They are much cheaper than all the competition. I mean real cheap.
• They look flimsy, but are a lot more resistant than they look.
• They can record music (at least, the Jukebox Recorder models can). Bootleg concerts, here we go!
• You can change the battery they use.
• They sound great.
• You can do very cool stuff with them

To hinder mass copying, songs you buy from the three stores are in special encrypted formats, not the open MP3 format. Each service also operates via its own special software, not via a Web browser. This software doubles as a music jukebox that can organize and play all the music on a PC, including your existing MP3 files.

What does this really do? A "special encrypted format"? This is significant limitation. Again, I understand the issues, but is it really necessary to force people to (1) install some special software in the first place (2) use this special software to make purchases (3) use this special software to play music on their computers (4) use this special software to actually burn the music to a CD?

A great deal of the music I have on CD (all 800 of them) is ripped to MP3 and sitting on my Archos jukebox. I guess these online music solutions care not about people like me.

Not to be a big baby, but I also hate the idea of having to use some catch-all piece of software, rather than choosing my own applications to browse/purchase (web browser), listen (xmms, winamp), and burn CDs (groaster) etc. Never mind that I run a Linux desktop too of course. I could understand if this was the only way they could think of to prevent unlawful activities. But once the music's on the CD, couldn't it just be ripped to MP3? So is their system not putting up secure walls but rather presenting annoying hurdles?

Please someone smack me down if I'm not thinking clearly (it wouldn't be the first time).

Or look at the Phototainer (running linux, alas they did not release the source :( and Archos (Archos.

Both have a harddisk, big screen (albeit both have only around 350x350 respectively 320x240 pixels, I wish they would make one with 640x480 like the Sharp Zaurus C750//60 - that display is _coool_), and play movies, mp3, have TV out etc.

See also here for hacking the Phototainer...

Best wishes,

Tels

Look at the Archos 320.

The Archos AV300 lets you record video directly. It's exactly what you're looking for.

It's not not cheap. But the quality of the screen and audio and video playback is excellent.

Archos has a new line of mp3/video players out. They can record tv shows using the DVR module. Very pricey though (up to $900).

http://www.archos.com/products/av300_series.html

attention getting, practical, pretty cool

decent sized handheld MPEG-4 video playback and recording
mp3 playback and record
handles photos, data files, fm radio
has memory card reader, remote, tv out

• Plays DivX movies on its 4" screen.
  
• Plays DivX movies via A/V outputs.
  
• Records DivX movies via an optional camera addon.
  
• Records DivX movies via an A/V inputs.
  
• Plays MP3s.
  
• Records MP3s via A/V inputs.
  
• Captures still photos (2.1MP) with optional camera addon.
  
• Transfers photos from digital camera flash memory cards to it's own internal sotrage.
  
• Displays still photos on its 4" screen.
  
• Displays still photos via A/V outputs.
  
• A bunch of stuff that I'm sure I've forgotten.
  
• Acts as a standard 40GB portable hard drive with USB2 and FireWire connections.
  

• It's a:
• portable 20 GB hard drive (USB / Firewire)
• MP3 player
• JPG viewer
• MPG viewer
• MP3 recorder

The screen is small (2"), but ok for viewing Office Space for the 10th time while I'm commuting via train. Having all of your recent photos on board is nice too (who needs that plastic thing in your wallet?). And it does hold 500 CDs worth of music and supports mu3 playlists.

It's easily mountable to my Linux box and I believe it is less expensive that the iPod of the same hard drive size. No it doesn't look as cool as the iPod or weigh as little, but the rechargeable batteries do go about 7 hours. It's an alternative at least ...

I've been drooling over this thing for awhile at the Best Buy site. You might also be able to get it directly from Archos.

I was hoping that this might show up on the dell site. Even though they are freaking slow, they might have a sweet deal. Unfortunately, they only have the older Multimedia Jukebox.

Put a keyring hole in it.

Try this : www.archos.com and the open source version... http://rockbox.haxx.se/

What about the

Archos

product?

Here's a mod for the Archos Jukebox. It seems to be the same basic idea, and is probably doable with any HD based MP3 player. Also for archos owners who may not have it yet, Rockbox is a great replacement for the crappy firmware that came with the thing.

Sorry to say, any multi-gig portable player just cannot cut it without USB2.0 What reasonable person will wait ten hours to upload or backup his music?

That being said, Archos' AV320 (capable of playing DIVX, XVID, MP3 as well as recording MPEG4 video and MP3, w/USB2 and FW) really kills everything in the category. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, and its insane. Combined with a TV-capture card (WinTV) I can record shows to DivX and watch them while eating lunch, traveling home, taking a ****.

Point being all this masterbating over free formats is fun, but its not quite the most important feature, especially when most people already have large collections of mp3s.

Sorry to say, any multi-gig portable player just cannot cut it without USB2.0 What reasonable person will wait ten hours to upload or backup his music?

That being said, Archos' AV320 (capable of playing DIVX, XVID, MP3 as well as recording MPEG4 video and MP3, w/USB2 and FW) really kills everything in the category. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now, and its insane. Combined with a TV-capture card (WinTV) I can record shows to DivX and watch them while eating lunch, traveling home, taking a ****.

Point being all this masterbating over free formats is fun, but its not quite the most important feature, especially when most people already have large collections of mp3s.

Check out the Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 with the Super Bundle (link).

20GB portable hard drive with options up the ying-yang. Card readers and USB and cameras, oh my.

$400US.

As for being away from power, look at solar battery chargers, available at auto parts stores.

Check out the Archos Jukebox Multimedia 20 with the Super Bundle (link).

20GB portable hard drive with options up the ying-yang. Card readers and USB and cameras, oh my.

$400US.

As for being away from power, look at solar battery chargers, available at auto parts stores.

Already exists since the 1st of june 2003 when ARCHOS offcialy launched the new AV300 series :

mp3, divx, photos, camera, video shoot & playback, tv recorder & playback, radio, speech/radio/mp3 recorder (some need modules), 3.8 inches screen, USB2/Firewire for a "few" 800 buck.

oh... forgot, it's 20Gb and 40Go in a few months.

Not yet in stores however or already in shortage ? ;)

I harddly see any enthusiasm in here. Though I think this Archos product is the greatest gadget ever made. Let me write obvious facts about the amayzing AV340:

It playsback 640x368 resolution DivX. It records 320x240 video at 25 frames per second. This means you can take your 100 favourite DivX movies with you in your pocket. And watch them in your video-glasses while you drive.

I do have a couple concerns about this player. Though following concerns probably won't stop me from selling my Archos JBMM20 on ebay (which I own since August 2002 and use very often) to buy the awesome AV340 instead:

1. Texas Instruments, who is making the processor which you find inside the Archos AV340, it's the DSC25. The DSC25 seems to be old. This might be sad, cause a 720MHZ DSP processor is available. (and a 1GHZ processor will be available in a few months) - Such 720MHZ or 1GHZ processors definately would perform better than 640x368 playback and 320x240 DivX record. Though Archos might get some help from DivXNetworks optimizing the DivX-support using the DSC25 inside the AV340 to the maximum and a firmware upgrade might be released to support better resolutions.

2. The Batteries. One can only get 3 houres of video-playback on the 3,8inch LCD. And Archos might again not provide an easy battery change possibillity. I wouldn't mind carrying around a couple extra batteries in my other pocket to swap into the player every 3 houres.

Archos here, developing portable DivX player designs since the beginning of 2002, definately has a knowledge in Portable DivX Player/Recorder manufacture. Which I think it is possible even Intel and Microsoft with their media2Go cannot equal. The Media2Go which might even not be available before christmas (picture of Media2Go).

A question I would like to ask all the other companies (Sony, Casio, Panasonic, HP, Philips..). Why don't you put a harddrive and a 720MHZ processor in your Cameras and PDAs! (up to 80GB 2,5" IBM pixie-dust harddrives are available that can fit in such portable design, IBM promizes 150GB). But somehow, I might be ignorant, it seems no one cares or knows how to put 720MHZ and a harddrive in the pocket. Only Archos can do it!

I harddly see any enthusiasm in here. Though I think this Archos product is the greatest gadget ever made. Let me write obvious facts about the amayzing AV340:

It playsback 640x368 resolution DivX. It records 320x240 video at 25 frames per second. This means you can take your 100 favourite DivX movies with you in your pocket. And watch them in your video-glasses while you drive.

I do have a couple concerns about this player. Though following concerns probably won't stop me from selling my Archos JBMM20 on ebay (which I own since August 2002 and use very often) to buy the awesome AV340 instead:

1. Texas Instruments, who is making the processor which you find inside the Archos AV340, it's the DSC25. The DSC25 seems to be old. This might be sad, cause a 720MHZ DSP processor is available. (and a 1GHZ processor will be available in a few months) - Such 720MHZ or 1GHZ processors definately would perform better than 640x368 playback and 320x240 DivX record. Though Archos might get some help from DivXNetworks optimizing the DivX-support using the DSC25 inside the AV340 to the maximum and a firmware upgrade might be released to support better resolutions.

2. The Batteries. One can only get 3 houres of video-playback on the 3,8inch LCD. And Archos might again not provide an easy battery change possibillity. I wouldn't mind carrying around a couple extra batteries in my other pocket to swap into the player every 3 houres.

Archos here, developing portable DivX player designs since the beginning of 2002, definately has a knowledge in Portable DivX Player/Recorder manufacture. Which I think it is possible even Intel and Microsoft with their media2Go cannot equal. The Media2Go which might even not be available before christmas (picture of Media2Go).

A question I would like to ask all the other companies (Sony, Casio, Panasonic, HP, Philips..). Why don't you put a harddrive and a 720MHZ processor in your Cameras and PDAs! (up to 80GB 2,5" IBM pixie-dust harddrives are available that can fit in such portable design, IBM promizes 150GB). But somehow, I might be ignorant, it seems no one cares or knows how to put 720MHZ and a harddrive in the pocket. Only Archos can do it!

I harddly see any enthusiasm in here. Though I think this Archos product is the greatest gadget ever made. Let me write obvious facts about the amayzing AV340:

It playsback 640x368 resolution DivX. It records 320x240 video at 25 frames per second. This means you can take your 100 favourite DivX movies with you in your pocket. And watch them in your video-glasses while you drive.

I do have a couple concerns about this player. Though following concerns probably won't stop me from selling my Archos JBMM20 on ebay (which I own since August 2002 and use very often) to buy the awesome AV340 instead:

1. Texas Instruments, who is making the processor which you find inside the Archos AV340, it's the DSC25. The DSC25 seems to be old. This might be sad, cause a 720MHZ DSP processor is available. (and a 1GHZ processor will be available in a few months) - Such 720MHZ or 1GHZ processors definately would perform better than 640x368 playback and 320x240 DivX record. Though Archos might get some help from DivXNetworks optimizing the DivX-support using the DSC25 inside the AV340 to the maximum and a firmware upgrade might be released to support better resolutions.

2. The Batteries. One can only get 3 houres of video-playback on the 3,8inch LCD. And Archos might again not provide an easy battery change possibillity. I wouldn't mind carrying around a couple extra batteries in my other pocket to swap into the player every 3 houres.

Archos here, developing portable DivX player designs since the beginning of 2002, definately has a knowledge in Portable DivX Player/Recorder manufacture. Which I think it is possible even Intel and Microsoft with their media2Go cannot equal. The Media2Go which might even not be available before christmas (picture of Media2Go).

A question I would like to ask all the other companies (Sony, Casio, Panasonic, HP, Philips..). Why don't you put a harddrive and a 720MHZ processor in your Cameras and PDAs! (up to 80GB 2,5" IBM pixie-dust harddrives are available that can fit in such portable design, IBM promizes 150GB). But somehow, I might be ignorant, it seems no one cares or knows how to put 720MHZ and a harddrive in the pocket. Only Archos can do it!

The Archos Jukebox series devices act as USB Mass Storage devices (my Recorder 20 does USB 2.0; newer devices have snap-on FireWire and USB interfaces, I believe). The Apple iPod, meanwhile, acts as the FireWire equivalent.

When I bought my Archos, I specifically chose it for this reason. (It would have been more convenient to buy a locally-distributed Creative Nomad Jukebox, but they use a weird proprietary protocol, putting you at the mercy of proprietary Windows software (which possibly does things to your system without your consent), or flaky reverse-engineered clients permanently in alpha; in either case, if your intended means of using the unit differs from the software designer's, you're SOL.) The convenience of mounting a unit as a disk and copying files to/from it as you see fit is well worth it.

Perhaps Neuros could upgrade firmware giving USB Mass Storage support, though I'm not sure whether this is feasible in software. I believe the Archos uses a hardware USB-IDE interface, which the host computer enables/receives interrupts from.

Look also at the Archos (although I really can't recommend the multimedia jukebox, it is crap for displaying pictures - however, the MP3 recorder sounds good) and Phototainer a swiss produckt, running Linux (!) on an ARM core.

I bought the Archos, but will give it back tomorrow (it takes forever to load images, cannot do progressive JPGs, no TIFs, and it can not properly scale images and it always has a max res. of 230x230 pixel, even on the TV out :/. But my Phototainer should arrive today and make me happy :-)

How about the Archos Jukebox Recorder 20? I haven't used one, I just found this when a professor was asking about something to do field recordings (I actually suggested the Multimedia Jukebox for her because she wanted a place to put her digital photos and you can buy a memory card reader for the Multimedia Jukebox). It's not iPod sized but it's still pretty small.

The specs say this can do up to 160Kbps encoding. I read a user comment somewhere that the built-in mic tends to pick up the hard drive noise but it has "Stereo Digital Line In/Out, Stereo Analog Line in" and you probably wouldn't use the built-in mic anyway.

Archos's Ondio is even smaller than the iPod and can record up VPR 160Kbps MP3s through line-in. It has 128MB Flash memory instead of a hard drive but is expandable with MultiMediaCards. You might not be able to make it through one show on just the 128MB but certainly could with an additional MMC. Again, I haven't used any of Archos's stuff, I just came across it on their web site.

How about the Archos Jukebox Recorder 20? I haven't used one, I just found this when a professor was asking about something to do field recordings (I actually suggested the Multimedia Jukebox for her because she wanted a place to put her digital photos and you can buy a memory card reader for the Multimedia Jukebox). It's not iPod sized but it's still pretty small.

The specs say this can do up to 160Kbps encoding. I read a user comment somewhere that the built-in mic tends to pick up the hard drive noise but it has "Stereo Digital Line In/Out, Stereo Analog Line in" and you probably wouldn't use the built-in mic anyway.

Archos's Ondio is even smaller than the iPod and can record up VPR 160Kbps MP3s through line-in. It has 128MB Flash memory instead of a hard drive but is expandable with MultiMediaCards. You might not be able to make it through one show on just the 128MB but certainly could with an additional MMC. Again, I haven't used any of Archos's stuff, I just came across it on their web site.

www.archos.com

From the specs:
Video playback: MPEG-4 SP with MP3 stereo sound, near-DVD quality. Resolution up to 640x368 @25f/s. AVI file format, reads XviD and DivX(TM)* 4.0 & 5.0
Music playback: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s. CBR & VBR
Music recording: Stereo MP3 encoding @ 30-160 Kbits/s. VBR
Photo viewer: JPEG or BMP of any size
Display: TV output or built-in color LCD (237x234)

Here ya go.

The Archos Recorder is another MP3 player that has a recording function. It has a built-in mic, about 10 hours uptime per charge, and the 20GB model can be had for less than $250.

The interface to a PC is simply a USB HDD, so it can be used with just about any OS, unlike the iPod.

It doesn't run Linux, but there is an open-source replacement firmware available, Rockbox.

Why wait? I note that the scrappy Archos has long been the underdog in the MP3 player/recorders, but their MPEG4 player/recorder just won the "CES 2003 Best of Portable Video & Best of the Show", apparently.

Why wait? I note that the scrappy Archos has long been the underdog in the MP3 player/recorders, but their MPEG4 player/recorder just won the "CES 2003 Best of Portable Video & Best of the Show", apparently.

I can do pretty much the same with my Archos Jukebox Recorder and an amplified microphone. With on-the fly VBR MP3 encoding direct to a 20GB hard disc, space is not an issue. And it fits in a pocket.

All I'd need for that is my ghettobox.

Every CD I buy gets ripped immediately, then stored. I can't remember the last time I actually put a CD in a player & listened to it. I mostly listen on my pc, but I recently purchased an Archos Multimedia 20. 20gb will hold all my "CDs" (ripped to mp3), and have space left over for me to make fun videos of my daughter jumping on the bed while twirling a baton :D

I occasionally listen to the radio in the car, but I'm more likely to hook up my Archos & put it on random play. With a few exceptions (unfortunately, my daughter like BSpears, etc.) there will be good variety, and all music I like.

I thought that XM Radio was going out of business or something. Maybe I remember incorrectly, though.

I've thought about a DIY high capacity portable, but havn't had the balls to risk that kinda money. I'm reasonably sure it would be possible to take the HD out of my Archos Jukebox and replace it with a larger drive, as its my understanding that its core is just a standard laptop drive

Why can't these PDAs have substantial disk space? I realize not everyone would want it because it would be heavier, but there's gotta be a market if they're adding mp3 playback capability to all these PDAs.

I'd say that $199 is overpriced for a CD-MP3 player. I'd rather just fork out the extra $100 and get a nice 5 gig iPod, complete with near-instantaneous (esp. compared to CD burning) file transfer and complete integration with my music software. That, or there are plenty of other jukeboxes available right in your price range.

Can I use the Archos as an USB harddisk to store data from my PDA/ digital camera/phone etc. No. USB is a master/slave protocol, and both the Archos and your device are slaves. Two slaves cannot communicate without a master (usually a PC). (An upcoming extension called USB On-The-Go will let slaves communicate without a master, but current Archoses will not be able to support that.)