Is Archos 604 Good Value For Money?

(The Archos 604 multi-media player comes in two variants: Archos 604 30GB, and Archos 604 WiFi. In this article I have reviewed the Archos 604 WiFi Model.)

A multi-media player, by definition, should be versatile. In other words, the more functionalities it offers, the better value it delivers to a buyer.

The Archos 604 does well, on this score. It plays digital audio and video content, and displays digital photos, on its built-in LCD screen. You can also display the visual content on a bigger television screen, and play the audio content on your home and car stereo players.

It is also a digital video recorder, has WiFi capability, and can be used for various other functions, with several accessories.

As a digital video recorder, this player has the capacity to record from television and other devices, and is able to store and play back recorded content, in standard formats, such as MP4 file format, WMV9, and protected WMV. The video is stored in MPEG-4 video compression format; more than one hundred hours of video can be stored.

This multi-media player is able to access the Internet, quickly and easily. It also has a web browser to enable ti to get audio and video files from the Internet, apart from an adobe file reader. Download speed is fast, regardless of whether audio or video files are being downloaded.

The player can be used with a large number of accessories, including a docking station for digital recording, connections for playing audio on your car audio system, a special docking station during travel, a special helmet that turns it into a camcorder to film video (using it with any digital camera), and a variety of headphones for WiFi use. It also has a GUI, with a context-sensitive menu, an audio playback screen (with album art), a photo thumbnail page (with picture magnification when you scroll over them), and a TV scheduler (that can download from yahoo).

Apart from the above benefits, the player is visually appealing with a rugged scratch-resistant body. It has a wide-screen 4.3 inch color LCD screen. Battery life is 18 hours, including 4 hours of video. The battery is removable, which optimizes its life. Although some may complain about the screen being too small to be able to read web files, or about the memory size of 30Gb being inadequate, this feature rich player is so competitively priced as to make it an absolute bargain.

Richard J. Runion is the President of Geostar Publishing & Services LLC. Rich loves net research & blogging. His new blog on Archos 604 multimedia player is fast becoming popular, as it is comprehensive and well-researched. Read his blog at: http://www.archos604review.com/