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Archos 500948 Black Friday Deals!.
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I bought this to replace a Creative Zen Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Gloomy) that had been stolen. I really liked my Zen, but I wanted to sight what recent stuff had advance out in the time since I bought it. This led me to getting the Archos 605 80GB instead, mainly because of the optional TV hookups. I've never liked to search for movies or TV shows (or even music videos) on my PC monitor because I can't relax and be pleased something passive while I'm at my computer. I'd also never weak the Zen's video capabilities mighty because the shroud was too miniature. The Archos 605, on the other hand, could be twisted up to a TV (with the DVR area or other accessories--I bought the DVR dwelling), which would allow me to gaze downloaded TV shows and movies in comfort--and even better, with other people (it's difficult to crowd around a computer desk to observe a movie), plus I'd be able to seek stuff on the go with its larger veil.
The wifi access, web browser plug-in and PDF reader also helped sell me on the Archos 605. I particularly looked forward to being able to read ebooks in PDF format.
So when I ordered the Archos 605, I was thinking of it as an MP3 "with benefits."
When the Archos 605 arrived, I found out that its camouflage was totally spacious enough to spy video comfortably. Shortly after I got it, I watched two and a half seasons of Weeds on it. It's improbable! I can carry a TV demonstrate into the kitchen to grab a snack, etc. When I'm home alone, I'm even able to rely on the built-in speaker--for TV shows, I don't need incredible sound quality; I objective need to be able to hear what they're saying. It's very cool; I'm very addicted. 
Like I said, I bought the DVR dwelling with it. I had wondered how a video file from the Archos would bear up enlarged on a TV veil, but no worries--the relate quality is righteous (we have a 32" location) . I've recorded some stuff from our TiVo onto the Archos, and the record quality is pleasant in that direction, too. Since we do have a TiVo, I haven't dilapidated the Archos as a DVR (with the downloaded TV listings and scheduled recordings), so I can't say how easy that is to exercise, but it's definitely easy to manually characterize something, and I was satisfied to gape that I could mutter it how long to characterize for.
As an MP3 player, it's not as profitable as the Zen, simply because it's not, primarily, an MP3.
One device the Zen (and probably most other MP3 players) is a better MP3 player than the Archos is that if you power the Archos 605 off while you're playing music, it doesn't automatically inaugurate up where you left off when you turn it befriend on. Instead you boot up to the main shroud, and then you have to tap the "resume" icon; otherwise nothing happens. In this draw it's less "slide and go" than my Zen was; sometimes if I'm only going to be driving for a few minutes (like a hop from the grocery store to the gas status), I won't bother starting it up at all. Also, the diagram you lock the controls takes a few seconds longer than the Zen did. With the Zen, you fair slid the switch to the lock place. With the Archos, you bear down the TV button until the lock icon appears on the cloak.
If you're playing from a playlist when you turn the unit off, and then you hit "resume" after you turn it serve on, it doesn't seem to resume the playlist--it does indeed play the song you were on, but it's playing it from the album instead of the playlist, so the next song after that is the next song on the album, not the next song on the playlist. Possibly this is glitch that will be fixed in a firmware update (or perhaps has been--I haven't updated my firmware in a couple weeks) .
Finally, changing the play mode (normal, sail, bid one, divulge all), takes a lot more navigating around than it did on the Zen. It really shouldn't seize that many clicks.
Sound-wise, the Archos is qualified as the Zen was, and its drawbacks as an MP3 player aren't so onerous that I'd contemplate buying a separate MP3 player. The Archos does well enough.
The PDF reader, however, turned out to be a disappointment. First, it takes several (loooong) seconds to go to the next page. Second, there's no design to bookmark where you are so that you can assume up where you left off. I figured I could impartial remember what page I was on and expend the Go To Page feature to gather attend to it, but the Go To Page feature uses a slider, which is nowhere come as quickly as if they'd let me type in a page number, and it takes a long freaking time for it to then load that page. Ugh. So this thing definitely hasn't replaced my Palm Tungsten for e-reading.
I haven't feeble the web browser or wireless distinguished. It seemed gorgeous boring the times I have, and there's no "tap feedback" in the Thunder Portal, so when you tap on a link, you often don't know whether the tap has registered or not because the shroud stays the same while the Archos (slooooowly) downloads the data for the next camouflage. That's frustrating. The web wasn't as frustrating as the Declare Portal; I fair haven't had mighty of a need to employ it.
Another downside is that there aren't any cases for it that will protect the unit while allowing you remark, immediate access to it, the procedure the skin I had for my Zen did. Instead it comes with a padded, envelope-like case that you have to lunge the unit completely out of if you want to employ it. (To be shapely, it's powerful better than the cloth pouch that came with the Zen.) Leather case options are miniature, and all the ones I've seen require you to commence the case in order to plan the shroud or access the navigation. The one from Archos won't even let you turn it off with the case closed, which isn't very handy if you're listening to audio and want to shut it off hastily.
I don't know how many hours I'm getting out of my battery. I did listen to music for 10 hours on a current road flow without it giving out on me, but I didn't withhold going to look how noteworthy more I could find out of it. I've also watched a couple hours of video without it running out of juice--and again, I ended up dropping it in the DVR plot (which charges it) before it did speed out, so all I can say about the battery is that it's lasting long enough for my needs.
Despite the caveats I've listed above, I Savor my Archos 605. I treasure being able to grasp TV shows and movies with me everywhere. I care for that I can finally sight bootleg concerts and other stuff I've downloaded on the "mountainous veil." It's easy to consume. The DVR position is easy to utilize. The two work together seamlessly. The Archos holds a ton off stuff. It plays my music. It lets me browse the web if I need to.
I'm joyful with it, definitely. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that future firmware updates will manufacture me even happier with it.
I have owned this blueprint for about a month now (after waiting for quite a few weeks for the backorders on Amazon to enjoy) . Overall I am overjoyed with it, but I cannot say I endorse it whole-heartedly. There are enough tiny quirks and annoyances that I would caution anyone thinking of buying one to reconsider before clicking that Recall button.
Don't gather me wrong: the nice features are very nice indeed. The veil is gleaming and obvious and the capacity can't be beat. The UI is dazzling and the wi-fi works well. As others have addressed all of these points, I'll concentrate on the things I found somewhat surprising upon opening the box. The quirks range from minor annoyances to serious issues, ranked below accordingly.
- The audio is indeed *much* too obscene. It's radiant for smooth situations, and usually not dreadful if the particular audio track is recorded at a high level. However, I have tried to discover sure movies on a commuter mumble (with what I would call a moderate noise level) and the audio track is completely indecipherable at max volume. If you're going to utilize this out in public (and isn't that the point of the whole contrivance? ), you're going to need noise-cancelling headphones at a minimum.
- This is a portable plan, but I would not call it a "pocket" draw. It has some serious heft to it (especially the 160 gb version) and it's lovely sizable. Fortunately, most of the map is taken up by the conceal, which makes it more worthwhile; quiet, 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 indispensable since the battery is non-removable, so you're completely stuck with it unless you're using some external power. I procure it reasonable for most uses, but don't forget to recharge at the waste 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 cover for quite a few seconds) and occasionally outright crashes. I have had to reset the design a handful of times already.
- The audio track on stout video files (2+ hour movies) can bag out of synch with the portray if you jump around too grand using the controls. This is especially sunless 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 expend on the touchscreen, but there's absolutely nowhere to store them. (i.e. they don't assign to the intention as is the case with pleasing powerful every other stylus-using contrivance.) It's nice having a stylus but this screams "Lose me."
- The PDF browser is *extremely* dull. It can recall upwards of 30 seconds to way each individual page, and any puny navigation or zooming can cause it to redraw forever again. Not to mention it seems like they are fair "printing" the negate to a PostScript file and then displaying it, so protective "print only" watermarks actually reveal up on the shroud. I was looking forward to this feature for browsing scans of some graphic novels, but the load times build this far too frustrating to be practical.
- The DVR function is somewhat of a joke. I'm not even positive why they include the "TV Guide" and timer functionality, since it won't report anything unless your TV and cable box are on the moral channel at the good time. It will represent TV shows, but I'm not clear what functionality the "DVR" adds since it's handsome grand the same as objective connecting the map and pressing narrate when your reveal is on.
- On a related notice, the optional "DVR Position" is also somewhat of a joke. I judge it flirts with deceptive advertising to brand a plan as a "TV recorder" when it doesn't even catch a cable signal. It's really impartial a docking situation with some additonal outputs, and doesn't win around the fact that you have to manually dwelling your TV and cable anyway.
- The manual that explains the functions of the diagram is tainted in many places. For example, the placement and function of the LEDs is completely different than the draw. (In fact, for some inexplicable reason the HDD light is on the *back* of the plot, so you never really eye it.) I suspect they slice and pasted the plot from another scheme (the 04 series? ) and didn't update. Somewhat minor, but there are enough functions on the blueprint that this is annoying when trying to learn them all.
All in all, you might net this intention useful if the above quirks don't really bother you. It's peaceful fairly nice to have on a long commute, but it's not quite the "wonder way" that some have painted it to be.
While I'll probably never consume this as an MP3 player (I have smaller devices for that), it makes one nice video player. I've been playing with one for a shrimp while and here are my impressions thus far:
Positives:
1) The video. Wow!!! I doubt there is anything this orderly and crisp out there that is this cramped and portable. The video looks wonderful and I've yet to have any hardware walk while viewing it.
2) 160GB. That is massive and fair the lawful size for carrying around video.
3) Intuitive user interface. I've got a Zune for my mp3's and I often earn that complicated (and irritating) to navigate around but this is quite easy to figure out. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to gain this to work the scheme you want it to. Navigating around a movie is extraordinary as well because it is so easy to end, hastily forward, or do anything else you would want to do on a video player.
4) Responsive Touch-Screen. Using the touch cloak was quite easy... I don't mediate I even touched the buttons on the side considerable. I had no quandary even though I've got some thick fingers.
5) Sound quality. This thing sounds spacious some with nice earphones. I can peer why some might exhaust it as an mp3 player as well. It sounds awesome!
Negatives:
1) No standard USB Connection on the way? Arrive on, if you are going to be this gigantic then give us a standard USB interface, please. For one, it is smaller than this ending. Also, if we are advance a computer we can spend the USB to charge it without having to carry the proprietary cable around. USB is unprejudiced sooooo... universal... I'm flabbergasted anytime somebody doesn't include a USB connection.
2) Battery. First, this isn't removable so you can't carry a spare pack around. But it doesn't last that long when playing video. This wouldn't be too great of a inconvenience if it had a USB connection because there is always a device to charge it that blueprint. But if the battery doesn't last as long as a laptop... there isn't powerful point.
3) Browser is not sterling. You can download video from Youtube and a few other sites but you can't objective score out on the web and grab stuff. I've read you can take a browser to do this, but something decent should have reach with the design. If you are going to have Wi-Fi, why not build it as functional as possible?
So, if you are willing to shell out the cash this is an grand design for video. I'd have other preferences for music but this is quite respectable of handling that as well.
