Archos 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500896)
$1,385.00
- Lightweight and portable digital video, movie, music player and photo viewer with easy-to-use, intuitive controls and a bright 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen
- 160 gigabyte hard disk lets you store up to 80,000 songs, 1,600,000 pictures, or 450 regular movies or 155 DVDs, or any combination thereof
- Compatible with MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA music files, JPEG, BMP, and PNG picture files, and MPEG-4 and WMV video files
- Uses high-speed USB 2.0 for both file transfers and charging, and includes a removable, rechargeable Lithium-Ion polymer battery with up to 17 hours of music and 5.5 hours of video life
- Lets you play music through a stereo or videos over your TV via an optional docking station, weighs only 11.15 ounces, and measures approximately 5.1 x 3 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D)
Do not buy this mp3 player or the latest generation! It s a piece of garbage! - As you probably guessed from the title above, I am very disappointed in this MP3 player. The last player I had before this one, a Creative Nomad Zen Xtra, was fantastic. Though it looked ancient compared to the Archos 504, I had it for four years and it never gave me any problems. It was still working when I replaced it actually. The only reason I very reluctantly gave it up was because the software to sync the songs to the player was not compatible with Windows Vista and there was no plans for an update. Unfortunately, we got rid of our old computer so I was sort of forced to get a new Mp3 player.I had specific things I wanted in an Mp3 player (a replaceable battery and lots of hard drive space being must haves) and after a lot of careful research I found that and more in the Archos 504. There were tons of magazine articles and customer reviews raving about the player and its advanced features. And it is amazing when it s working. The problem is it rarely works, and many of features don t actually come with the product. And there are enough irritating aspects of this Mp3 player to more than make up for the excellent ones.When I first received the player, I was amazed at how clear and large the screen was and loved the fact that I could actually watch videos on it. I also liked that I could store pictures and pdf files. I also didn t need any software to sync songs to the player (though I could use Windows Media Player if I wanted to) It was like a little mini computer. I did notice though that it was awful buggy. Some songs I synced wouldn t show up in the player, and others would show up multiple times. Also, all my song titles were messed up, and it took me a while to figure out how to straighten them out (let s just say it s a very convoluted way to tag songs). It would also freeze up a lot when I was playing songs and I had to constantly reset it. Those things were never an issue at all with my Creative Player. About a week after I bought the Archos, it completely died on me. I called customer support and they told me the hard drive needed to be replaced. Saying I was extremely unhappy was an understatement. This was a brand new player that was supposedly light years ahead of the Ipod and that I paid top dollar for. I was tempted to write a bad review on this site, but I decided to wait and see how it ran after I had it sent in for repair. When I received it in the mail 3 weeks later it was slightly less buggy and seemed to work. After a month I decided to get some accessories for it, like a AC adaptor and a decent case (both of which came standard with my Creative player). It was still freezing up, but not quite as much as before. Well, cut to August 2, 2008, the day after my one year warranty ran out and the Mp3 player starts making this groaning noise just before it freezes up and sometimes refuses to work after I reset it. Now, with a year old player and a hard drive LESS than a year old it is nonfunctional. I ve never been happy with this player to begin with, now I m completely disgusted with it. I was hoping to have this player for at least four to five years, now I m in the market for a different brand because I don t think I can t take another year of this buggy Archos garbage. I would definitely NOT recommend buying this player. It is very expensive and doesn t work most of the time. I did a little research on the 604, hoping that they fixed the flaws of the 504, but they are all still there, perhaps even more so. I think I wasted too much money already on this useless metal square and I don t want anyone else to waste theirs.Well, I d thought I d recap some of the pros and the many cons of this player for anyone who s interested.Pros:Looks and feels expensive (and is expensive!)Tons of storage spaceBig clear screenGood sound quality overallReplaceable batteryCan sync songs directly from the computerCons:Freezes up a lotHard drive prone to overheating and static electricityBattery life pathetic (I never got more than 4 hours out of a battery and that s just playing songs)USB cord nonstandard and very hard to find a replacement if lostAC adaptor sold separately (and is a must have because recharging takes about 8 hours with the USB cord compared to about 3 hours with AC adaptor)Decent case sold separately, is expensive and doesn t fit correctly (player only comes with a cheap useless vinyl pouch)To play most videos you have to pay extra money to download the program with standard formats.Arclibrary (the file with all the music) doesn t recognize some songs and incorrectly tags others.Buttons are very awkward to use and are not intuitive at all.Built in speaker is pretty much useless.Volume is relatively low for an MP3 player (Personally, I think the volume is fine but this is the #1 complaint for a lot of other Archos owners. If you like blasting your music, you will definitely not like this player.)Supposed to work like a mini TiVo player if you get the DVR docking station but doesn t. (Luckily, I never bought this pricey accessory and I m glad I didn t because I ve heard from many owners who say they ve never figured out how to get it to work.) I wish I was the only one with this problem, but I m not. If you go on any MP3 player message board, probably about 99 percent of the Archos owners have a player that is either barely working or not working at all. Like I said before, from what I heard, this was a problem with past players and continues to a problem with the latest players. I for one will not touch anything with the Archos label on it again. I d even go to the dark side and buy the evil Ipod first!
ARCHOS Still Insists on FAT32 Limitations - I would give this product the highest number of stars possible, +1 if they d just realize that the FAT32 format limitations are extremely annoying! This portable DVR is among the best for size, quality, ease of use, etc. Problem is, they insist on keeping the FAT32 limitation -- presumably because they don t want to have to make a separate version for Mac computer users.What does this FAT32 limit mean? If you have a movie that is longer than 2 hours, or you want DVD quality of any show longer than 1 hour, the protocol causes the file to split because of the 2 gb file size limit. In other words, if you take a movie like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer s Stone (which my kids love) and want it in DVD quality, the file will actually split TWO TIMES. How frustrating when you re watching the movie and have to wait while it closes file #1 and opens #2, then does it again for file #3. Yes, you CAN configure the Archos to automatically open the next file in a folder/subdirectory, but there s still the time lapse and annoyance.Sure would be more than willing to pay a little more for a device that is NTFS -- so this annoying, outmoded/outdated protocol and it s limitations are removed! Great, by the way, for using as a travel companion on airlines and in hotel rooms!
VERY SENSITIVE MEDIA PLAYER - This is my second ARCHOS that I ve had and I feel that it needs to be more durable for all the money you shove out to get it. My first one fell out my locker and I definitely accept responsibility for that, but this second one I ve bought takes the cake. At first, it was doing fine. No issues. But now, it has shut down and it won t start back up. I went to the site and tried to reset it like the instructions said but that didn t work. So, I sent an email to the ARCHOS site and now I m awaiting a response. I think I ve finally learned my lesson. All that glitters is not gold!!! Beware Buyer, unless you are the type that don t mine spending money or super careful of all your stuff.
So glad I purchased this! - I had initially set out intending to just go and buy an iPod video - I had one of the original iPod s which proceeded to break, and then I had the colour photo one which made it to just over a year after I bought it and then decided to stop working. Something inside me said that after two failed products it probably wasn t the best thing to do to fork out some money to Apple for another product that would just give up on me when it felt like it. So I got out there looking for something similar and came across the Archos 504, and BOY am I glad I did.At the time I purchased this it had been about for a while, and new more advanced models coming out with touch-screen and wi-fi capabilities. However I opted to go with this model for several reasons which I will now outline. Most appealing had to be the fact that the 504 offered 160GB memory which was unparalleled in the other models and any other rival products I had seen. Also I felt that seeing as the 504 had been about for a while any issues that caused problems with it would have been ironed out so I would be purchasing a more reliable product rather than getting something that felt like it still needed some beta-testing. I have to say that I ve now owned it for a month and haven t experienced any problems.Something that was both attractive but also a slight worry with this product was the size of it. It was appealing to have a screen that made videos watchable on the go without any strain being put on you, (having tried out the iPod video I felt this wouldn t have been the case as the screen is WAY smaller than what the 504 offers. However I didn t want a unit that was cumbersome and required a bag to go anywhere with. I am a big guy, so for any lasses out there this wouldn t fit in your pocket - but it fits nicely in mine I will admit which was a huge relief.I ve heard the controls on the unit described as counter-intuitive, and that has to be something I disagree with. I felt the controls made total sense and I still get a thrill of the way the whole thing works together.. it just makes a lot of sense to me. Perhaps I am counter-intuitive in that case? What is a shame is that there s no backlight for the buttons, so when it is dark it is not easy to distinguish which button is which, but I ve found after a month you can operate the unit with your eyes closed. The menus in all the different features are very self explanatory I feel and they are easily learned.The player can handle a lot of video formats, my favourite of which is the DivX playing capability. I have not yet purchased the cinema-plug-in which I fully intend to do because it allows you to play some other useful formats such as .vob from a DVD disk for high and AAC audio. I think this will be a worthwhile plug-in though. I ll be purchasing it soon.I am so pleased I decided to buy this Archos 504, it was worth the waiting for. I feel like on some occasions it is a little obvious, but it does the perfect job so farGav
LOVE IT! - While this was a gift. I have to say this device is a great gadget to have... I have been able to subscribe to iTunes and convert all my purchased songs to mp3 playable formats for the Archos.... this toy is a head turner when you are flying.