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Archos Releases Portable Video/Image/MP3 Player

Posted by simoniker on from the swiss-army-knife-of-portability dept.

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."

3 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. MPEG4 Licensing by ih8apple · · Score: 4, Informative

    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?
  2. Never again by deanj · · Score: 3, Informative

    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.

  3. Firmware problems by MWoody · · Score: 4, Informative
    Hmmm... This looks neat, but I wonder how well it'll work in action. I've got an Archos 20GB Recorder, and it kicks ass (looks cool, sturdy as hell, acts like a portable hard drive). However, when I first got it, I almost returned it due to it's horrible firmware (buggy, slow, unwieldy, hardly any useful features). I have only kept it - and grown to love it - thanks to open-source Rockbox firmware, which whips the llama's ass hardcore.

    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.