Archos 604 30 GB Ultraslim Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500860) | List Price: $349.99
Discount Price: $229.00
|
Brand: Archos
Binding: Electronics
Release Date: 2006-09-01
Features: - Lightweight and portable digital video, movie, music player and photo viewer with easy-to-use, intuitive controls and a bright 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen
- 30 gigabyte hard disk lets you store up to 15,000 songs, 300,000 pictures, or 85 movies, or any combination thereof
- Compatible with MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA music files, JPEG, BMP, and PNG picture files, and MPEG-4 and WMV video files
- Uses high-speed USB 2.0 for both file transfers and charging, and includes a removable, rechargeable Lithium-Ion polymer battery with up to 16 hours of music and 5 hours of video life
- Lets you play music through a stereo or videos over your TV via an optional docking station, weighs only 9.05 ounces, and measures approximately 5.1 x 3 x 0.65 inches (W x H x D)
Dude, Sweeet! [Posted on 2007-10-05]
This Product is absolutely fab darlings! I've just recently bought my Archos and have had it now for about a month and am enjoying every inch of it. All the great things about it have been mentioned in the other reviews, but the thing that I just went ga-ga for is not having to pay to put movies on this thing. Also, I'm not a big fan of the questionable things we view in movies; every now and then I'd just like to watch a wholesome movie not tainted with drugs, sex, profanity, and violence. So when I'm recording movies on my Archos I like to do what movie makers call, "jump cuts," where I pause the recording when a scene in a movie comes up that I don't care for viewing, and resume recording when its over. So when I finally watch the movie, any contents I didn't want in it won't be. How cool is that?! Works out great with the kiddies.
The Archos doesn't hurt your pockets either. Again, as was mentioned before, its reasonably priced for all the things you can do with it unlike the ipod. Its funny cause each time I buy a media player or MP3 player I compare them to those rinky dink iPods, but they can never measure up. You buy an iPod for this price you get music, videos, and pictures. You by the Archos you get movies, TV shows, music, photos, digital camera connection capability, PDF capability (my favorite), audio recording (also my favorite), TV playback with the DVR dock station, or all these tarveling with the DVR Travel Dock. Is that a Steal or what?
The only things I didn't like about the Archos 604, which wasn't enough to make me get rid of it or not purchase it, is the fact that the buttons don't light up(making it hard to navigate at night or if you just happen to be in a dark area; this can be remedied by buying the Archos' with the touch screens), and it didn't have an FM tunner(not that it really needs this feature, but it couldn't hurt.).
I Compared the Archos to the Zen that I have by Creative. And I must say, although they're both great buys, I use my Archos the most. I don't see why more people don't use these as opposed to the iPod. And if it appears right now that I'm abasing ipod, I'm not. They're just not the better buy.
Get the dock [Posted on 2007-10-31]
I purchased this unit from Amazon last May and use it primarily for travel. Before a trip, I choose some interesting movies from Netflix, pop the movie in my DVD player and record it to the Archos. The screen is so nice that people sitting by me on airplanes ask about it.
Since I have used it for several months, I have some observations:
1. With the dock (which, in my opinion, should be included with it), you can record directly from a DVD player or DVR. I have recorded programs on my Dish Network DVR and then just played them later, recording them to the Archos.
2. On an airplane, the audio is really too low (even at full blast) unless you have noise canceling headphones. I tried the earbuds and could hardly hear my movies. My Bose noise-canceling headphones give me a great experience with the Archos on an airplane.
3. I subscribed to Urge subscription music, which was dovetailed with Windows Media Player 11, and subscription music worked fine. I downloaded lots of subscription music to the Archos and as long as you did a sync at least once a month, the DRM dates would be updated by WMP automatically. Alas, Urge merged with Rhapsody a few weeks ago and guess what? Rhapsody is not compatible with the Archos. Neither is Napster. So if you use subscription music, this player isn't much good. Obviously, your purchased music and CD rips work fine on it.
4. I would like to see a better way to manage files on it. Deleting files from it to make room on the hard drive is easy enough, but I haven't found a way to delete whole folders. For example, I can easily delete individual songs from an album, but there's nothing on the menu that lets you delete the album all at once. Little quirks like that make using it take some getting used to.
5. It is a little heaver than most similar devices, and I haven't found it very good if I am walking or running ... a smaller mp3 player would be better for that. But for video during travel, it can't be beat.
Overall, I consider this a good purchase and love my unit. I bought an extra battery (video sucks battery pretty good, but I can generally watch at least 2 full-length movies before the battery dies) and the dock, and would highly recommend both purchases if you want to use this unit. Of course that adds to the overall price so keep that in mind when comparing, at least if you want to get full functionality from it.
Great for watching movies, not so much for audio on the go. [Posted on 2007-11-30]
I've had the Archos 604 30gb for about 2 months now, and I've been using it practically every day. It's a fantastic PVP, and when it comes to watching videos on the go, I think the screen size is right in the sweet spot. Any smaller (I used to have a Zen Vision: M) and you tend to get eye strain or motion sickness; any bigger and it becomes too heavy. Anyway, here are my major pros and cons:
Pros
*Great screen! The resolution is not the highest out there, but the size and contrast keep videos looking great. I Compared it with my friend's Zen Vision and his resolution was a bit sharper, but the Archos' viewing angle was far superior.
*Audio quality is great, and audio enhancements like an EQ and Bass Boost are included.
*Nice option between Mass Storage Device or Win. Media device.
*Fantastic base price. Mine was a steal at $180 refurbished.
Cons:
*Silly button layout that takes some getting used to and requires two hands (one to support the device, one to push buttons) to operate. Very difficult to operate blindly.
*Blasé design. Ok let me be honest... It's just plain ugly compared to the slick curves of the Zen or iPod product lines.
*Limited video format support out of the box. You can purchase an upgrade for $20.
and the most nagging con...
*DELICATE!! I know it has a spinning physical hard drive in there, but this thing is touchy to the point of frustration. Just the slightest tap or bump to the device while it's reading the drive will cause it to lock up, at which point you have to remove the battery (!) and press a Reset button with a pointy object. You don't lose any data except the time and date, but I must admit I feel pretty darn silly dismantling my device and resetting it in the train, on the street, at work, walking around, etc etc. I can honestly say it's crashed 40 - 50 times already in the past 2 months. I'm sure these crashes will destroy the drive eventually as well.
The bottom line:
If you are like me and like to listen to music on the go, make sure you stuff this thing into the included case (at which point it's the size of a small book), or be ready for lots of hard disk lockups. But load this baby up with some TV episodes or Movies, find a nice comfy place to sit, and the Archos 604 with its great screen and adequate battery life (about 4 hrs) really shines.
Archos 604 DVR - prone to break [Posted on 2008-02-12]
The device is fine, but I'm about to get a 2nd RMA. These things are prone to failure.
the best of the best [Posted on 2008-08-09]
this thing is the best. easy to use, holds all my music and videos and then some. no need to install any programs just plug in and go!
Click here for more details and discount information...
|
){kind=link}