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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Brian's Science & Nature Shack > Archos 604 Portable Media Player Review |
| Moderated by: Brian |
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Brian Grand Poobah of Moderation 
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Hi, Everyone.  As promised, here's my review of the Archos 604 Portable Media Player. First, a picture:  The image above shows the picture viewer with the thumbnail pics. I don't actually have a lot of pictures on mine yet, but if you have enough pictures, the thumbnails would fill the screen as above. Here's what mine actually looks like while charging:  Anyway, here's what the device can do: Music Playback and Recording Video Playback and Recording* Photo Viewer PDF Reader Dimensions: 5.1" x 3" x 0.65" Audio Formats: : Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s CBR & VBR, WMA, Protected WMA, WAV (PCM/ADPCM). With optional software plug-ins: - AAC class="font_disclaim"3 music files - AC3 stereo sound files Video Formats; MPEG-4 class="font_disclaim"2 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution) WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution). With optional software plug-ins: - H.264 up to DVD resolution and AAC sound. - MPEG-2 MP@ML up to 10 Mbps (up to DVD resolution) and AC3 stereo sound. Now, before we go any further, you can probably see the first bit of bad news: Some formats require optional plugins. Archos (unwisely, in my view) makes you pay for those. They're $20 a pop. Not exactly what I'd like to hear. This nickel-and-diming actually runs rampant with this device. The base price for the device is $250. (Luckily, I got mine cheap on Ebay.) When you start to add in accessories, though, the price isn't as attractive. For example: You'll notice I put an asterisk up there by video recording and playback. That's because the device doesn't record video out-of-the-box. In order to record video, you need an optional DVR dock. The dock will run you about $100. Even worse, the only way to use an AC adapter with the device is to have the dock. Otherwise, you have to charge it through USB, which takes longer. Suffice it to say, if you want to play video and audio, you'll probably be fine with the base unit. If you want to record from digital sources, though, expect to pay dearly for it. Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, what do I think of the actual device? Not too damn bad, actually. My first impression was, "This thing is smaller than I pictured." I was expecting a brick-like device because of the size of the screen, but it's actually pretty thin. I mean, don't get me wrong: You'll never mistake this for an iPod Nano, but I put it in my dress shirt pocket with no problem, even while it was in the case. The interface is slick (with icons on a big, beautiful screen that you navigate using the buttons), the audio playback is good, and videos look beautiful. I'm very impressed with the video, actually. My old player was a Gigabeat S, and this blows that away. The screen on this device alone is bigger than the entire Gigabeat S, so there's no comparison in terms of video. The other standout feature of the 604 is the kickstand on the back. There's a little lever that you pull out and up from the back. You can then stand the device up at an angle to watch video hands-free. I can tell you from personal experience that this is a wonderful idea. I've held my Gigabeat up for a half an hour watching a show, and let me tell you: It gets old fast. The kickstand makes it more likely I'll download a decent-sized video to watch. The device operates in two modes: MTP mode and Hard Drive mode. In MTP mode, it syncs with Windows Media Player and Vista's Media Center. In Hard Drive mode, it acts like, wel... a hard drive. You can drag files on to it and listen to/watch them that way. This is also how you get PDF's on the device. One of the first things I did was to load my resume on there.  The only complaint I have about the device itself is the button layout. Some genius in their ergonomics department evidently decided that it'd be a good idea if raising and lowering the volume were separate buttons. To make it worse, these same buttons also navigate you through the menu system, depending on where you are. That's just foolish. To balance that out, though, this is one of the few MP3 players i've seen that actually includes an external speaker. You don't get the greatest sound out of it, but in a pinch, if you need it, it's there. The analog audio recording works great. I just had to go into the Settings screen and set the source to "Microphone", and I could use the device as a recorder. The audio levels for just speaking weren't great, but they were clearly audible. I suspect that you'd get great bootlegs by taking this bad boy to a concert.  Another thing I should mention is that the battery is user-replaceable. That means that when it eventually runs down (as all rechargeable batteries eventually do) you can just buy another one (~ $30). All in all, this is getting 4 out of 5 thumbs up from me. If you don't mind getting nickeled and dimed for the video recording (or if, like me, it's not an issue) then you'll be happy with this.
 "It's been a long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." -- "A Long December", Counting Crows |
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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Brian's Science & Nature Shack > Archos 604 Portable Media Player Review | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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