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Archos Releases Portable Video/Image/MP3 Player
GregGardner writes "Archos is about to release the AV300 series, the next generation of portable video/image/MP3 player based off of the Archos Jukebox Multimedia discussed on Slashdot previously. Features include a 3.8" LCD screen for viewing movies and photos, FM tuner, MP3 playing and recording, 20GB or 40GB HD models, USB2.0 (optional Firewire) connection, TV-out, MPEG-4 encoding from a video/audio-in signal, digital photo (3.3 megapixel) and video camera, and much more. Looks like some of the features require add-on modules. I found a brief review on SF Gate which states that the 20GB model (AV320) will retail for $570."
Sounds great, but what kind of resolution are we talking about here? I wouldn't want to see fuzzy, pixellated video writ large on my TV screen, whether it comes from my VCR or a tiny MP3 player
My Ogg Vorbis collection is getting bigger as I convert all my CDs to it and I need a portable that not only plays it, but also records in it.
Why isn't this done yet?
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
a world in progress...
Something else for people to download pr0n onto.
Plus, I want a spellchecker with that.
Features include a 3.8" LCD screen for viewing movies and photos, FM tuner, MP3 playing and recording, 20GB or 40GB HD models, USB2.0 (optional Firewire) connection, TV-out, MPEG-4 encoding from a video/audio-in signal, digital photo (3.3 megapixel) and video camera, and much more.
All those and it can't cook me a steak?
Bah, I'm not impressed.
Mike
was the piano wire and the snakebite kit.
Jeez, you can't buy any 'gadget' today without it having a mediocre digital camera built in.
The main product it self seem to be just a hub for joining together add on components. Its not really an all in one as it can only do one thing at a time dependant on what componant is attached. It seem very much like a marketing scam to me, why not put all the componants in the main product instead of selling them as extras. Without the extras it doesn't seem to do much at all.
I think like most people I'd buy one if it were around $250.00 but it's hard to justify the price when you can get a laptop with more features for the same price they're asking. You're paying for size essentialy. OH well... I better start saving :)
Seriously, this sounds like a pretty cool gadget, but I'd like to see what kind of battery life this thing has, and it doesn't look to me like it'll stand up to being bashed around particularly well. The linked review didn't seem at all comprehensive however.
This article came out almost exactly a year ago and has an interesting quote regarding all the devices, including this one, that license MPEG4:
"The MPEG-4 compression has run into controversy regarding high licensing fees. So significant were the fees that Apple actually delayed the release of Quicktime 6 in protest. How this will all play out with users over time is not known yet, but unless this fee issue is addressed it may dampen adoption by users."
Also, the link above links to this article regarding the entire controversy. (It's kind of funny because the first article is dated before the second one, so obviously that article was modified to include the link after being first published without the date changing.)
I wonder if they've managed to knock down the price or if the license is a significant portion of the cost of the device?
Why do I h8 apple?
I can get a decent used laptop on eBay for less than the cost of the device, and I can also then do word processing, war driving, mild gaming, etc, and STILL do everything that this device can. Why should I buy it? Size? Size does matter, but cost matters more to me.
The IBM Thinkpad 240 series, the tiny sharps, the tiny Sonys, all available, of decent quality, and inexpensive.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The big issue with this Archos will be whether its manufacturing feels as flimsy as their earlier models. Archos usually seems to be well ahead of the curve in features and price, but usually far behind in appearance, construction, and usability...
Now if this had a better price, I (along with most people) would buy one.
Dude, where's my packet?
One more item to carry around and brake the screen on. I'm still waiting for the PDA that can do anything fast and store a lot.
Ogg Vorbis is a niche format. It may be technically superior, but so was betamax. It's all about whether or not it gets player support. If it doesn't, all the superiority in the world won't save it.
You may want to keep this in mind while you're busily converting all your CDs.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Other than the price, this would make a cool carMP3/media player. Take the screen off, change the buttons, what else would you do w/such a small screen? Ofcourse, for $600 you could build a better one, and it would void your warranty,b ut a cool project none the less...
It's a great buy for under $200. When does it come out? Neat little thing!
now if they add 10" or bigger screen, wouldn't it be called PC?
How about a PC with 3.8" screen, without CD/DVD, very few ports..? It should be possible to manufacture one much cheaper than USD 570 (the list price for 20 GB).
It is a cool device but at that price point, it will compete with sub-notebook PC and people will compare with it. Other than small size and touch sensitive screen, it has nothing extra but has lot less than PC.
Hmm... so I can spend around $550 on this thing, which, with all the extras is much mre likely to be around $700.
OR
I can spend a little more and get a nice iBook [or insert your favourite budget notebook here] which is a thousand times more capable.
I don't think the features vs price really pays off to be honest. Things like the iPod/MP3 players work because they offer an awful lot your PC can't (portability, battery life, simplicity, PRICE).
This device would be a pain in the ass to look at for 20 mins let alone an entire movie! The battery life isn't all that great, the HDD space is only acceptable - nothing stellar, and the cost is really pretty damn high.
Can you see Joe Public or your boss ripping and encoding his own DiVX's from his DVD'a? I can't... I love DiVX but I'm a geek, this just doesn't seem to appeal to the masses.
I think these guys are afraid that the iPod got a jump on them in the MP3 arena, and now they're trying to enter/create a product a couple of years before the stability and market is there to support it ut of fear from being left behind again.
-Nex
This sig has been deprecated.
Well I was so looking forward to buying this thing.
When i first read about it in Wired , It said, it would retail about 350-375 $. But 570$ give me a break.
Plus add another 70-80 bucks for firewire cable and 50-70 bucks for the compact flash adapter. Thats too much price to pay.
Besides archos JBM 20 had some serious design flaws like plastic buttons etc. And archos is not exactly known for after sales service.
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
This will go nowhere until Apple does something like this, and then everyone will say Apple has innovated yet again.
Hell, I bought a secondhand Compaq Armada M700... for $500US That's a PIII, with 256Meg of RAM, a DVD drive and a 20Gig Hard Drive, with all the ports you could want (Except Firewire)...
So, cheaper, probably as good battery life, and a FAR better screen for watching movies (14.4"), and it's got TV out just like this...
Just doesn't appeal at this pricepoint.
None of these devices have an AM receiver? I'm guessing it's because interference... I need my daily Michael Medved fix! med-heads unite
I own one of their MP3 players. It worked briefly for me, and when it broke I was never able to get them to answer me, either via phone (no call back) or e-mail (and a lot of those).
I'll never buy a product from this company again.
When those guys made the Rockbox for Archos Jukebox 6k, I was modded up for lambasting the poor quality of their software... And for good reason, v0.1 sucked cock, they shouldn't have released it in such a sorry state... BUT! You might want to go back and check it out again, it kicks serious butt.
If Archos dropped the Rockbox guys a copy of their new hardware, Archos wouldn't have to invest in a software dept... ^^;;
[o]_O
These people seem to have their act together, considering that they will deliver virtually anywhere in the world. Its rare to see a startup offer its products (specially video .. as I assume they've got to make their product multi-standard) on such a wide basis.
Ask Richard Chamberlain, B1TCH!
So, with the AV300, I worry whether or not we'll see a version of Rockbox or something similar, or whether the firmware that comes in box will be at least serviceable this time around. If not, at that price tag, this device will try and fail to compete with both the smaller laptops and the portable DVD players.
I'm afraid the Archos unit is a step in the right direction at teh wrong time.
;)
Let's face it, the future of personal computing is mini, modular "data boxes" that dock with workstations or portable perihpherals for full functionality. They'll have all the essential "unique" components (hard drivbe for your personal data, etc.) and come with the equipment to use them independantly (like a small color touch screen) to use them on the go.
However, for full functionality you'll link up with any number of station set-ups; a fixed workstation, portable peripheral station, etc. Hotels and similar places will have in room stations for you to "plug and work" with your mini-system, etc.
The part that's misssing (and the reason these aren't a practical reality yet) is the portable peripherals. Specific items that need to be polished are lightweight, cheap displays (polymer based stuff still in development), etc.
Here's to the future... when it arrives.
-rt
What an ackward piece of junk. I'm going to break out my Microvision and play breakout! yipeee!
Then Apple will wait and then deliver what we are really looking for in this package. Not to say that this AV Jukebox is a slack product, quite the contrary, its actually almost feature bloated. That and its size, weight (big weight, tiny screen),and cost are going to turn many off besdies early adopters.
t m ). Apple has had products like this in the skunkworks for a good while, but it seems after the Newton panned and Palm took over that Apple has switched to a "wait, see, and capitalize" approach (see also flagging tablet PC sales).
I say Apple not only because the iPod was the answer to the original Jukebox but also the Knowlege Navigator (see: http://www.billzarchy.com/clips/clips_apple_nav.h
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
I think Penny Arcade said it best.
What kind of device is your DVD player?
In comparison, I have a PowerBook G4 that has enough battery life to play any DVD I've thrown at it at 15.2 inches, and it weighs 5.4 pounds. The smallest PowerBook weighs in at 4.6 pounds and there is a DVD capable iBook that also comes in at about 4.9 pounds both with significantly higher battery life.
IE, I wonder what you mean by 'a laptop doesn't cut it'
As for boot... You never turn off the system. You let it sleep.
An iBook has, on a single charge, an estimated 250+ hour sleep life, while a PowerBook seems to have about 100+ hours.
So boot/startup/shutdown is on the order of 2 seconds, or about the time it takes to open the lid.
That, and Apple just dropped the price on their 12" PowerBooks.
GPL Deconstructed
Why is there a $40 difference between the 20 and 40GB hdd's? They're both 2.5" laptop hdd's and if you look around both those capacities sell for around $80-85 bucks, so asking an extra $40 for the larger drive (or heck even offering the lower capacity drive) is kind of nuts. These are comodity components, use whatever best fits the price point of what the consumer want to pay, not pick a bunch of cheap crap and inflate the bigger sounding unit. That's one of the reasons I loved my iPod so much, the hdd seperatly cost nearly as much as the iPod so I knew Apple wasn't trying to screw me on the componenets.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
The iPod is what, 2 years old? I thought we'd have some interesting "clones" by now, but I only know of one, and it's just as expensive as the iPod.
This one is gonna flop. Too big and bulky. Not easy enough to use. Not enough people will want this.
And when are they gonna make an MP3 player that can recieve AM?
I Encrypt My IM's
Thinkpad 240s run on C366s. Try doing realtime MPEG-4 encoding on that.. or anything else less than 1 GHz for that matter. Any laptop that can do what this can do is going to run you 800 on eBay easily. Plus it is about 1/8 the size.
It would be teh 1337!!!!!111one111111eleven111!11!!!!
"I wonder what it's like living in a constant haze of stupidity" - Hiei, Yu Yu Hakusho
I second that. Just bought a Jukebox Recorder 20 this weekend, and the availability of Rockbox was a major selling point. More points in its favor: the use of AA NiMH batteries. Most (all?) other HD mp3 players use proprietary batteries. Archos has also followed this trend with its recent offerings.
The combination of Rockbox and a standard battery means that my Archos player won't be burning out or going obsolete anytime soon (fingers crossed).
... but I've been too busy converting video to mp4 format to play on my new P800 fone..
(and playing MAME with the sound off, and running up my GPRS bills, and downloading MIDP/CLDC doccys...)
My Cell phone except my eyes are 60 years old
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
You are listening to grunge, and I come up behind you and all your radio can get is Bluegrass (it's fun doing that. a small class C amp and an antenna is all you need.)
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
NPR is good on FM but that's only one station.
Personally, I can see a definite desire for an AM receiver.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find one as good as the iPod. I would love to know the player that you speak of since I would rather not give Apple my money.
I love my Recorder 20 device from Archos, but, the quality of their products is deplorable. After convincing a friend to purchase an Archos, he returned 3 20s to Fry's as they were all DOA.
After hearing about 2 different 20 Recorders failing (on top of the three DOAs), I doubt I would trust Archos hardware any time soon.
In addition to the hardware issues, the software is not the best either. Look at some of the threads on this topic to hear about those issues. I love the recorder, but it fails more times then is succeeds. I have had to go back to CDR for my concert work as the Archos hard locks 20 minutes into most performances.
So Archos is 2 for 2. Hardware that fails and buggy software. Excellent ideas and great price, but you get what you pay for...
and searched for natalie portman to see what shes all about.... and shes not that hot. i mean wtf? a girl cant be hot unless shes in a (bad) sci-fi flick?
i was about to say 'im confused' but being here i think i can safely say that it is everyone else.
why doesnt anyone support it?
that is why i encoded all my (500) cd's at 256k mp3. not b/c its a better format or its lining frauhofer's pockets, but because i can listen to em anywhere.
let me see your:
dvd player, ipod, car cd player and home component cd player play an ogg and then i still wont change because in 5 years they still wont be making ogg stuff.
im osrry i wanted ogg to work too but its just not happening. that said apple telling me to encode my shit using AAC is about as likely as my using WMA.
mp3 may not be 'open' but its about as close as you can get these days and still actually use and enjoy your audio when/where you would like.
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
Apple does license the fraunhofer (or whatever) codec and therefore at some point we (apple users) do pay for it. look through the "Legal" menu on an ipod, you will see it somewhere down there (and its also listed in the "About iTunes" popup).
so yes (and no), mp3 encoders/decoders do lie in some weird legal state, but i think herr fraunhofer is probably to busy thanking the gods to go hunt down everyone using LAME.
---- The real Slashdot is still here. You just have to browse at -1 to read the comments.
AV320 is 4.4 x 3.2 x 1.2 inches, 12.5 ounces
palm tungston is 4.8 x 3.1 x 0.7 inches, 6.3 ounces
apple ipod is 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches, 5.6 ounces
playing movies is nice, but not at twice the depth and weight.
sorry, that's too heavy and too deep.
all i want is a touchscreen, good sound output, and 5+gb storage.
manage it with a real OS (like palm, linux, even winCE) and you'll have my money.
Use my userscript to add story images to Slashdot. There's no going back.
it's called a LAPTOP. My Sony Picturebook can do all that and more, I got it used for not much more than the Archos unit and it's MUCH more functional. I use somewhat souped-up older used or low-end laptops and PC's for everything computing-wise and can do 99% of my friends that insist on the latest and greatest over-modded bling-bling and the latest marketroid eye candy can do, for about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost. Isn't park of the hacker ethic doing more with less, nbot just throwing you're hard earned dead presidents at the latest trend?
[what?]
As the standard issue field jukebox--except, of course, in the traditional red.
So this is why vorbis isn't headed for extinction: it can live along side MP3 until people get sick of MP3.
The hardware is ruggedly built, and I'm pleased with it.
But the Archos firmware is wholly disappointing. Even the Archos font is lacking -- it's got no true descenders ("g", "y", "p").
There's an excellent GLP'd replacement, Rockbox (rockbox.haxx.se). It's literally an order of magnitude faster in displaying directories, and has a plethora of additional features.
The only "problem" with the GPL'd replacement is that, due to Archos's paranoia over its IP, the replacemnt had to be built up by labourious reverse engineering.
I'll buy new products from Archos when they release their specifications and sample code. Not before.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
RCA showed off a similar product at CES, the Lyra RD2780: http://www.beststuff.com/article.php3?story_id=521 6.
Scheduled to hit stores this summer at ~$450
I'm just saying that iTunes is in fact a legal, not-adware mp3 encoder.
The suggestion that legal mp3 encoders are adware is absurd.
--
the strongest word is still the word "free"
Technically, you are not supposed to use LAME unless you have paid Fraunhofer their royalties. While the source code distribution is protected and allowed by law, the binaries are not.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
The above is valid if you reside in a country where Fraunhofer has patents on MP3, or if the country honours international patents.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
make that 3 for three.... my jb recorder failed as well.
is a jog dial ala the ipod or something of the sort seen on most professional music keyboard/synths. Then it would be feature complete. then if archos could just imporove their quality they'd be golden... easily begining to errode the ipod's popularity.
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!
or any TV for that matter. Think of it as a portable Tivo.
I would never buy an Archos product again after they jerked me around on their rebate for the Archos Jukebox. I purchased their device retail (CompUSA) and had all my paperwork copied and in order. After contacting a guy at Archos on and off for nearly a year and being told various stories about problems with their claims processor and wait just another few weeks and whatnot, I gave up. I would not trust this company with a dime.
the Ipod design is patented, which probably explains why there's little in the way of clones....
Anyone can make an MP3 player, but for 14 years no one can make a white one with a big jog wheel.
-Stu
I currently own the Multimedia 020. It's great, but you have to downconvert all your DivX files to their preferred resolution. It's a limitation of the chip they use... looks like the 340 will be better in that regard, but what's really needed is somethign where you can take any DivX file straight of Kazaa onto the JBMM and have it play correctly at the resolution they need for the their screen.
--D
I wonder what will happen when this comes up against sonys potable player. I think these are more competitors than the PSP vs GBA:SP.
http://www.wickedtoast.com
[] You understood the Open Source development process.
open (SIG, "</dev/zero"); $sig = <SIG>; close SIG;
It just doesn't compete with the iPod as a portable media product.
My friend owns one of the previous all-in-one media jukeboxes from Archos, and he tells me all the time he wishes he had gone the path i went (iPod 20 GB). While Archos has made a neat product, this all-in-one thing is just the jack of all trades, master of none.
For my fellow Star Wars Expanded Universe geeks out there, here's an analogy. The iPod is the R2 Unit, the quintissential (sp?) astromech droid, while the Archos is that bastardized R2 Unit with parts and tubes sticking out every which way. Anyone remember the name? It's from the Essential Guide to Droids, something like the C2-R4 Multipurpose Unit.)
It's a bit of a stretch, but the analogy is accurate enough to express my point: pick one thing, stick to it, and master it. This is what the iPod has done as an MP3 player, and it has yet to be matched in that field.
Begun, this browser war has.