Archos 605 Wifi Portable Multimedia Player with 160GB* Hard Drive - Silver

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the audio track is completely indecipherable at max volume. If you're going to use this out in public (and isn't that the point of the whole device?), you're going to need noise-cancelling headphones at a minimum.

- This is a portable device, but I would not call it a "pocket" device. It has some serious heft to it (especially the 160 gb version) and it's pretty big. Fortunately, most of the device is taken up by the screen, which makes it more worthwhile; still, this is not at all something you stash in your shirt pocket.

- Plenty of others have mentioned the short battery life, but it bears repeating. This is especially notable since the battery is non-removable, so you're completely stuck with it unless you're using some external power. I find it reasonable for most uses, but don't forget to recharge at the end of every day or it will become a doorstop on your next commute.

- Generally the OS works well, but sometimes loads very slowly (hourglass or splash screen for quite a few seconds) and occasionally outright crashes. I have had to reset the device a handful of times already.

- The audio track on large video files (2+ hour movies) can get out of synch with the picture if you jump around too much using the controls. This is especially sad because there is absolutely NO "resume" functionality, so you are forced to load the file from the beginning and jump forward if you are resuming watching a file.

- The touchscreen works well overall, but the smaller buttons can be fairly difficult to press. (The pop-up USB activation button sometimes requires some serious button-mashing in particular.)

- The unit comes with two plastic styli to use on the touchscreen, but there's absolutely nowhere to store them. (i.e. they don't attach to the device as is the case with pretty much every other stylus-using device.) It's nice having a stylus but this screams "Lose me."

- The PDF browser is *extremely* slow. It can take upwards of 30 seconds to draw each individual page, and any slight navigation or zooming can cause it to redraw forever again. Not to mention it seems like they are just "printing" the content to a PostScript file and then displaying it, so protective "print only" watermarks actually show up on the screen. I was looking forward to this feature for browsing scans of some graphic novels, but the load times make this far too frustrating to be practical.

- The DVR function is somewhat of a joke. I'm not even sure why they include the "TV Guide" and timer functionality, since it won't record anything unless your TV and cable box are on the right channel at the right time. It will record TV shows, but I'm not sure what functionality the "DVR" adds since it's pretty much the same as just connecting the device and pressing record when your show is on.

- On a related note, the optional "DVR Station" is also somewhat of a joke. I think it flirts with false advertising to label a device as a "TV recorder" when it doesn't even accept a cable signal. It's really just a docking station with some additonal outputs, and doesn't get around the fact that you have to manually set your TV and cable anyway.

- The manual that explains the functions of the device is wrong in many places. For example, the placement and function of the LEDs is completely different than the diagram. (In fact, for some inexplicable reason the HDD light is on the *back* of the device, so you never really see it.) I suspect they cut and pasted the diagram from another device (the 04 series?) and didn't update. Somewhat minor, but there are enough functions on the device that this is annoying when trying to learn them all.

All in all, you might find this device useful if the above quirks don't really bother you. It's still fairly nice to have on a long commute, but it's not quite the "wonder device" that some have painted it to be.

Archos 605 Wifi Portable Multimedia Player with 160GB* Hard Drive - Silver

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copy files over. Nice! That's what I prefer.

The price isn't that good and after all the small "upgrades" of codecs you can buy, it probably comes out to a little less than a 32gb IPOD. I haven't added it all up.

Yes, they do "nickle and dime" you, but it's not as if they're forcing you to buy stuff you don't need. The most annoying thing is making an XVID movie with ACC sound, only to find out that it won't play due to needing a thirty dollar codec download. Stupid thing won't even play without sound! Geez, at least play the video and disable the sound. I had to instead either A) Buy the codec or add in mp3 sound. Second most annoying thing is actually telling you in the device that you can buy a codec for playback.

Charging the device via USB is a pain. It's slow. It's almost if they mean to make it slow just to get you to buy the dock charger. That's another thirty or so.

The orange menu icons are ugly and the interface is a bit "clunky" as someone pointed out. At least you can change the background. They also could simplify the display by turning off certain menu items. Simple is good.

Seriously, I can't possibly going into details as to how many things this thing can do. There is NO WAY EVER the Ipod Touch can match it. I could play around for hours it seems like.

Here's the coolest thing I didn't know about this device before buying it. You can setup and share video on your PC with TVERSITY or Windows Media Player and connect to it with this device! 160gb not enough? You can access all your media on your PC with this device if you wanted.

Now onto more negatives. The web browser is slow. It's not my connection. Browsing webpages is slow, yet playing youtube videos is perfectly fine!

Another VERY BIG negative is that this doesn't seem to support any lossless audio codecs that i'm aware of. There is WAVE format, but that's a HUGE waste of space. Could they at least offer FLAC support?

It's also a pain converting all my Itunes music over. For some of them, i'd have to burn them to CD and encode them to WAV and then to mp3. Not the players problems, but it is hard going without Itunes at first, but that's something i'd like to get used to.

I find it funny how people who love the IPOD touch say such negative things about the Archos. The one thing they seem to mention first is the size and how it's like a huge brick. Sure, it's large, but did anyone ever complain about how portable CD players were so large and a pain to carry around? No. This can still fit in a pocket and it's not that large. Obviously, you probably wouldn't want to go running or to the gym with this thing. For that, i'd go with something else. I find this to be more of a portable video player more so than a regular music player.

I do play a lot of WAVE files on this and even with a portable headphone amp, it does not seem to power my AKG 701 headphones as well as the IPOD Classic. I just wish the volume could go up a little higher.

I have to mention the touch capabilities. I honestly don't use them really, so I can't comment. I just use the buttons.

When playing a video, it takes 3-5 whole seconds to load. Oh Darn, better not buy this! Get an ipod, it will play them in 2!

I don't know if this is for everyone. It depends on what you need. If you want a music only player, then there is no point to get this probably. I actually now like to watch movies on this. Never really did that with the IPOD classic I still have and use.

Now all they need is a remote for TV usage and a Sound Dock like they do for the Ipod.

Archos 605 Wifi Portable Multimedia Player with 160GB* Hard Drive - Silver

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being on the cutting edge of pvp technology. I want to continue to buy their new releases. I am, however, getting a little gunshy given my unavoidable experiences withthe product support.