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[M-theory]

delete

[joeags]

I believe that most FutureShops have this item also in stores for $319.99, so you could get it for $253.99 with a price match... YMMV

[alfaromeo]

Nice one. I would opt to the 160G for 379, since they all use HDD.

[bokep]

is this better than an ipod touch?

[yakkers]

can you surf the iternet with these using wifi?

[xiaosheng]

I bought one but returned it. It's a good deals but archos 605 is not that good.
It takes forever to recharge it via USB, bettery dock is must. Bettery life is short and sound quanlity is only average. Browser and other programs cost extra.

[thomas997]

http://www.archos.com/store_us/family_b.html?country=ca&lang=en&fam_id=0000000013&gen=5

You can browse without the plug-in but its very limited (ie no direct url entry).

[tallshorty111]

It has RAW support. That can be very useful on long trips to offload photos.

[iandi]

http://www.archos.com/store_us/family_b.html?country=ca&lang=en&fam_id=0000000013&gen=5

You can browse without the plug-in but its very limited (ie no direct url entry).

If you buy all the plugins (for browsing the net, playing vids- 2 types) - it will run you around $70. Gotta factor that into price.

[curryman90]

then i guess you're better off with an ipod touch, no?

[Taiphun]

I just bought the 160G Archos, loving it.

With it and the battery dock I get a full charge in about 4 hours. Not so with the USB cable going to my PC, that at best is 11-12 hours. Of course, whaddya expect with so low current from USB?

Sound quality is much better than my iPod. Supported formats as well.. I can grab any torrent from my PC and drop it on the 605 and it plays perfectly. Try that with the Touch. Same with music. Touch only plays mp3 and aac's (correct me if I'm wrong) but this thing has taken mp3's, ogg, wma, and wav's. Haven't tried others (.flac), as my library is pretty much all those.

The addons really aren't a big deal. The only one I've purchased is the Opera browser. The other two (.h264/AAC and VOB addition) really aren't necessary. But yeah, the browser should have been included, wouldn't have cost them anything.

[canadiandollars]

Not to crazy about all the add-ons. Couldn't they have just made the device include the browser instead?

The price point $259.99 for 30 gb of wifi and touch action is compelling but until they improve the battery life and hopefully get rid of the add-ons, I'll be holding out. :)

[Aske001]

Awesome price for what you get, although I'm not crazy about the new Archos policy of nickel and diming customers for add-ons. Our old Archos gmini came with everything you could want included.

I have to say I was really torn between this Archos 605, the iPod Touch, and the Nokia N800 for a combo media player and WiFi web browser. Although they are in the same price cateogry, they each have very different trade-offs.

The Archos is a great video player with its big screen and the full range of video options and accessories (including built-in video output and optional video recording). There's no substitute for a big built-in hard drive when it comes to storing video and a big music library. But it's physically the biggest unit, and the WiFi web browsing is an afterthought that costs extra.

The iPod Touch is small and svelte by comparison, and the touch-screen interface is cool - it just works more smoothly than the others. The video quality of the screen is good, and WiFi web browsing was built in from the beginning. But the small built-in storage is limiting, and battery replacement is a problem. 3rd-party developer support is starting, but everything will likely cost extra.

The N800 is in-between in size. It is intended as a communicator and web appliance first, and a media player second. It throws in extras like Bluetooth, a built-in webcam, and stereo speakers. The dual SD card slots are more flexible than the iPod's built-in memory, but offer less capacity than the hard drive of the Archos. Its use of Linux is both a strength and a weakness: there's a lot of software available and it's mostly free, but it tends to be less polished and less well integrated. I do like the way you can click on the Application Library browser, browse a wide range of available apps, and when you see one you like you can just click to download and install over WiFi.

I ended up buying the N800 this time around, since I already have a hard-drive iPod for storing my music and a couple of other video playback devices. The killer app for me was that the N800 runs Skype.