Glossy picture

The product in itself is ok if you have a limited budget and need an MP3 player at a reasonable price like i did. But generally its not grand in terms of quality. The production is clear but not fantastic when you compare it to others. I have had better MP3 players that where in the same price range and had better sound production. I did not find the manual user friendly either, i figured out most of it on my own.
Like most things sold online, the pictures taken to represent the item are always glossed and the item looks better than reality. The colour graphics are not as clear as it looks.

great for recording.

Creative Zen V+ 4GB

ok, this review is JUST for using this thing as a recording device.

what i did like about it was the ability to edit the menu's and remove all the unwanted stuff. i ended up with a menu that said"Recordings" and"Line in recording" and"System"!

the screen orientation can be changed also and brightness turned down from the default 100%. i run it at 40% i think. (i don't use it outside).

actual recording: ok, for some strange reason the only two recording formats are 120k wma and 160k wma. i would have preferred 120 and 240k or 160k and 320k. not sure even if those exist in the wma format, but never mind. 160k produces a reasonable enough sound.

i only wanted to get a device that i could record radio shows from, that i do, and with 4gb using compressed wma format, i can get a helluva lot of shows on there!

so i gave it 5 stars because it does very well what i wanted it to do, which was a simple, no nonsense recording device...only ;)

cheers,
bill

A working one is excellent (if you can get one)

This is a great PMP. The touchscreen in bright and clear and sound quality is excellent. Only problem is getting your hands on one without any defects. Search the internet and you'll find hundreds of people listing various problems with these devices, from stuck/dead pixels to faulty hard drives and corroding paint, Archos seems to have reached new lows in quality control.

I had 2 from Amazon, but both had screen defects. This is a real shame as the item is great. I'm now going to try and buy one from a retail outlet so I can have a look at it before I part with my money to make sure the screen is in full working order.

Good luck!

Mp3

I bought this mp3 a little while ago and i found straight away one problem. i found that it didn't have a radio like it said it would, and it wasn't one of the options you see in the picture. I also found it was quite annoying have to plug it into the computer and so i bought a plug. I found it had a mind of it own and sometimes it would charge off the plug and sometimes i wouldn't. It also turned itself on even when no buttons were being pressed, and so to stop this i had to put the lock button on. I would say that this mp3/4 is good, just a bit of waste of money and i would get something else!

Solid ipod dock for 30gb video

Ordered through 'esaver' (one of the amazon additional buyer options) and was delivered promptly.

Very happy with the dock. Solid build quality. The dock adapter that came with my ipod (30gb video) fits straight into the base without having to fiddle about. The ipod feels well supported when docked.

The RF remote is fine. Works through walls (although I have limited need for this functionality!). I haven't tested the 50' claim but it works from any angle within the room, which is about all I need it to do.

Sound quality through the supply cable is good. Video quality is better than I expected it would be considering it is encoded video being watched on a large screen. The bundled lead can be plugged straight into the ipod headphone jack and carry sound and video/photo, although the connection seems to be somewhat sensitive - perhaps an option for portability, but safer to plug it in through the jack at the back of the dock. I don't know if I'd ever both to use the s-video out as the combined av cable is fine.

I'd seen a review on another website saying that you can use the doc without it being plugged into the mains. However, when I tried this the sound quality becomes very distorted (it sounds like the ipod battery isn't powerful enough to power the dock). Sound quality improves if you plug directly into the headphone jack on the ipod, but then all the doc is doing is standing the thing up! In short, you have to have your ipod charging all the time it is docked - I can't see that this is an issue, unless for some reason it isn't good for battery life?

A couple of potential negatives. Unlike any other dock I've seen this one doesn't have a USB/Firewire input so you can't sync with itunes while it's in the dock. For me this isn't an issue as the dock still charges the ipod from the mains and I have no need to sync the ipod while I'm playing content.
The second point is that when using the remote, you cannot see the ipod menu on a tv screen, just on the ipod screen. Not the end of the world for simple functions, but if you're a distance from the ipod you have to select options somewhat 'blind'. Not the end of the world - some docks seem to have a menu emulator for TVs but these come at a cost!
Lastly, my ipod is black and Kensington don't appear to do a black version. Although not ideal, it doesn't look out of place in the gloss white dock.

Overall a very solid dock that does exactly what I needed.

Great Item

The first machine I bought did not play well. I contacted Archos 3 times, their customer service department don't even respond to emails, says it all I guess. However good old Amazon sent me a replacement straight away. I cannot knock the product it is really good, however Archos as a company, well they are rubbish, hence only 4 stars.

Fantastic

Excellent little device. The Archos produces an excellent quality picture on connected TVs, even through composite cables. Charges in no time too. Really expands the usability of your Archos device.

Feastronics 8GB 3" Widescreen and Touchscreen MP3/MP4

The Feastronics 8GB 3" Widescreen MP4 player offers a 3.0 Inch Widescreen 16:9 TFT True Colour Screen supporting RM, RMVB, AVI, ASF, MP4, 3GP, MPG without conversion! Many others are supported through the supplied conversion software which is easy to use and intuitive. Music support is compatable with MP3, WMA, WAV plus other formats including APE/FLAC lossless compression music, WOW! This really is one awesome media player offering a very high level of build quality, great functionality along with awsome audio and video playback. Do experiment with the software you use to convert your films into mp4 etc as I found that different utils do vary in the quality of conversion. The full touchscreen navigation works a treat using either the"pen" supplied or just by using your finger. I bought this as a present so I have not been able to test the battery life as yet. Even if you are not on a budget I would recommend this product without hesitation! Product arrived quickly and was well packaged. They even replied to my e-mails the same day. Well done!

Confusing

I think it is a bit confusing reading the description.It says its a dual screen dvd player but then it says double the fun with a second screen.So how many screens are there exactly?????

MP4/MP3 Touch Screen Player

Unfortunately had to return the first one as the touch screen was defective, but this was mitigated by the great service and a replacement was sent immediately. First impressions are that it is a great little device, smaller and lighter than a packet of cigaretes. The ability to put extra storage in, by use of a mini-SD card is great, especially if you are to away from home for a long time. Okay 4 Gb memory basic should be enough for most unless you want to use it solely for videos. I haven't used the device for a video yet, but from the sample given it is quite clear. With pictures it does not like too large a format so to display them you need to reduce the size/compression, however the display is nice and clear.Only niggle I have at present is the built in game, I cannot see or work out how to open this Tetris like game; I have no idea if you can load alternatives, but if you are into mini-games then this device is not really suitable.
The touhscreen screen remind me of the current advertisements for a certain Apple device, but how similar they are I have no idea, but the touch screen menu looks good and is easy to use.
Connection via the USB cable for uploading or downloading files is easy, the device is even recognised instantly by Microsoft Vista without needing additional drivers.
Battery life, well I have used this only for a few hours as yet but the built in battery display, on the touch screen, still shows a full charge.
The unit comes with ear plug type speakers, in white, which I haven't use, prefering light weight headphones, and as such I have found the clarity to be most acceptable and no need to turn the volume any way near half way up. The option of using the built in speaker is very handy at times and for its size it gives reasonable sound but remember if you want to use it for a party etc you need a seperate powered speaker unit.
I haven't really got to terms with the built in radio, but it is very directional and seems to need to be tuned in precisely.
The screen size is larger than most other devoted MP3 screens on the market unless you go for a devoted movie device (generally 4 to 8 inches. It is very acceptable for one person to use about the normal distance as per reading a book, but not really acceptable for use by two or more people nor for all the kids in back of the car.
One word of caution is that when you first get the unit home, there is a 'plastic' protective membrane to be removed and it is between the screen and the outer housing and looks as if it does not come off, it does; trouble is you can leave small bits of polythene within the screen surround.
Price wise it seems expensive until you remember that it has a large capacity of storage, 4 Gb, AND that it can take a mini SD card which can boost it up to 8 Gb

Amazing piece of kit

Even though the Vision:M is quite old, you really couldn't ask anything more from a 20-40Gb media player. It's probably the last mp3 player in this capacity that will use a hard disk as storage.

The sound quality is excellent, the screen is sharp, battery life realistically around 10 hours and the latest firmware makes it very stable. It supports wma files as well. Of course, you can get players that are lighter and thinner nowadays, but I was very happy when I found one of these refurbished and practically new for £80.

to charge archos 404

well packaged multi contenient adapter to suit my 404 bought at currys at 128 gbp, pricy for a charger u can charge from pc with usb lead supplied with archos 404 but u cannot use usb to transfer direct from dig camera.
i emailed archos with a few gripes but no answer u will have to buy optional plug in software to use video, 19 euro at time. i bought the adapter but as yet untested with my fuji or pentax dig camera.

unit nice compact heavy 30gb storage great for me but xtra high costs
crapcheck out your use against other units and wigh up additional costs

all the best from alittle dissapointed!

what stunning PMP player

The Cowown A3 is a good all rounder it play DVDs I have captured on by playing them through a DVD player takes as long as it take to watch a DVD good clear screen only thing is u can get a reflection when watching video that can be annoying.

Sound is ok I don't think its up to my last mp3 which was a samsung would be nice to have a dance or electric eq but bbe does enhance the sound nicely though.

I also use the Cowon to read E-books it better than the samsung for this due to the large screen size, you can alter the back lighting/contrast for when your reading so that is not to bright & make ur eyes ake.

I have just been on holiday & used the USB host function with my new Sanyo VPC-CG9 stills & video camera it was very easy to use to make a copy of every thing on the Sanyo just had to click each file the picture & video showed without having to do anything else sound as well worked could also delete the files from the Cowon on the Sanyo all in one.

I like the information you have on the screen when listening to music it does every thing very well & has a wide range of file format which I missed some of them as they would not play on my samsung as I used to have A2 until it was dropped 1 to many times & stopped working. So don't drop it to many times have had this about 4 months & not dropped it yet lol.

The only down side is that it does not have touch screen or wi fi for INTERNET access or bluetooth. I have just ordered the DVB-T digital TV adapter for the A3 will tell you about this later when I have watched it.

Its a close call between Cowon & Archos I chose the Cowon because of the many different file formates I have my music in' from mp3 to ogg-vorbis & wma Archos don't support ogg & some of the codecs on the A3 u have pay extra for on the Archos along with the docking station to be able to direct record the fact is with the Cowon A3 you can do all this with out having to pay extra for it a real big plus.

great if it wasn't for the fatal flaw

I bought the 160gb version with TV docking station that was supposed to have the manual and registration instructions on the drive. However they were not there, and there was no help on archos site. After a week of trying I eventually found out how to purchase the plug in for web browser and set up my archos account. I gradually learnt how to use it. the touch screen is NOT finger friendly, it's slow but audio sound is great through h/p and even a £3 lead into my amp. I began to fall in love with the look and feel of this device and the ability to watch video streamed from youtube n google video as I walked around the house etc. I went to bed each night streaming films. however they always cut out after ten minutes. I thought i was being dumb. Again there was no help on website or manuals and only by trial and error did I find it needed to be plugged in to ac adaptor to watch a whole video, which defeated the whole wi-fi and portability aspects of it. Not only that, you also need it plugged in when synching with wmp11. If you like your audio don't rip WMplayer in lossless or anything else as archos forces a downgrade to standard wma which takes forever. corrupt files are common too.
Here's the crunch, I never got as far as setting up my bundled dvr station or other extras as on day 12 FATAL ERROR recovery error 102 none of the restore options worked. The archos site had never heard of that error (which turned out to be lies)and couldn't help me. The device felt weighty and of good build quality so i thought i must have been unlucky and got a duff hard drive. Not so!! The flash drives suffer the same problem and there are thousands of people on the forums with the same problem with no resolution but to RMA. I've decided grudgingly to wait for a larger capacity iTouch. The bricked archos remains by the door a month later waiting to be collected, and needless to say i ain't got my money back yet. It was great while it lasted but i'd never by another. Invest in a sonos for audio or just by a small cheap laptop for the same price for video without paying extra for every bit of added functionality.

all recorded items gone

Had mine since 16th feb 08.
installed 320Gb IDE HDD which gave plenty of space. in general the functions are fine, beware though the stored material is hard to navigate through if you don't rename your recorded items (immediately if poss). Sometimes it stopped randomly when timed recording was being used, or didn't stop when asked to whilst recording, resulting in a restart and loss of the recorded programme .Also it didn't load properly when being used as a PVR ,this being solved by turning off then back on .What a pain !
HOWEVER tonight i turned it on to find all my recorded programmes have gone , no record function available, second part of hdd is ok ( good job i backed some of the recordings up ) but the primary functions on the ME1 have gone .All in all i'm not happy.
will be returning it for a full refund this weekend.