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Archos 2 8GB MP3 Player/Radio - White
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £49.00Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
Good Value
(5 out of 5) by A. Brace on Jul 9, 2009 (UK)Bought this for long distance cycling. Very good value.
First impressions
As a whole seems solid, buttons are a bit flimsy, but very good build quality for the price. Much better than a sandisk i have used before.
Audio quality is good, don't bother with the included headphones, get some in ear ones, much more comfortable. Although generally the standard headphones for all mp3 players are terrible.
File transfer over USB is quick and easy. Charges through mini usb aswell. Just plugged the player straight in and started transferring, no silly software.
Radio works ok and is relatively easy to use.
I haven't tried the video feature, other than watching the demo video. Doubt i will put any videos on this as I will use my Archos 605 for that.
All in all very good value.
First impressions
As a whole seems solid, buttons are a bit flimsy, but very good build quality for the price. Much better than a sandisk i have used before.
Audio quality is good, don't bother with the included headphones, get some in ear ones, much more comfortable. Although generally the standard headphones for all mp3 players are terrible.
File transfer over USB is quick and easy. Charges through mini usb aswell. Just plugged the player straight in and started transferring, no silly software.
Radio works ok and is relatively easy to use.
I haven't tried the video feature, other than watching the demo video. Doubt i will put any videos on this as I will use my Archos 605 for that.
All in all very good value.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
Amazing Value For Money!
(5 out of 5) by D. R. Aldridge on Sep 4, 2009 (London UK)I bought this MP3 player for music on the bus and while riding my bike, so I took no notice of the video options. However, I checked out the sample video and it is amazing, if the screen is a bit too small. I still only use the player for music, and it is amazing. This is my first MP3 player and I am highly impressed, it feels solid and the music quality is amazing. It looks good, although the chrome picks up fingerprints easily, and is sleek and lightweight, perfect for carrying in a pocket. For the money, this is the best MP3 player I have seen on the market bar none, and I did a lot of research before choosing to buy this player. Highly recommended.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Don't buy these!
(1 out of 5) by R. S. Welch on Sep 23, 2009 (Milford, Surrey United Kingdom)I bought one of these a couple of months ago - very pleased, good sound, good radio, easy to use. Then it stopped working: no power and unrecognised by the PC on connection to USB. So I return it. After looking around, and some more research, I decided to give it another go. New player arrived this morning - the volume controls don't work (well, you can turn it down.... but not back up again!) So... back it goes again. Quality control at Archos is obviously hopeless and it's a real shame because this could have been a great player.... perhaps its just too cheap for its own good. But I won't be buying Archos ever again.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Hardware good. Firmware... needs work.
(4 out of 5) by Andrew Munro on Jul 26, 2009 (Scotland)In terms of value for money, despite what I'm about to write, this is still an excellent wee machine. I'm still very pleased I bought it, and if I had the same £40 to spend again, I'd still get this.
Small annoyances:
Cuts off the first 1/3 of a second or so of every track.
No gapless playback.
At the moment, can't use while charging (despite what Archos' website says!)
Internal and External memories treated as separate.
No charger supplied - USB charge only.
Good things:
Audio quality excellent - volume a bit low (but not much!), but Archos' hands are tied by regulations.
Excellent value for money.
Small size and weight.
Expandable memory (micro SD cards)
In short, the hardware is excellent, the firmware is a little clunky.
If you want all the problems sorted immediately, don't get this. Hopefully, however, a firmware update (or even RockBox?) will be forthcoming!
Small annoyances:
Cuts off the first 1/3 of a second or so of every track.
No gapless playback.
At the moment, can't use while charging (despite what Archos' website says!)
Internal and External memories treated as separate.
No charger supplied - USB charge only.
Good things:
Audio quality excellent - volume a bit low (but not much!), but Archos' hands are tied by regulations.
Excellent value for money.
Small size and weight.
Expandable memory (micro SD cards)
In short, the hardware is excellent, the firmware is a little clunky.
If you want all the problems sorted immediately, don't get this. Hopefully, however, a firmware update (or even RockBox?) will be forthcoming!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
Very nice player for the money
(4 out of 5) by SpampMan on Aug 2, 2009 (Near Blackpool, UK)The Archos 2 is a neat little unit. The front panel is tough plastic while the back is metal with a shiny bronze finish that shows finger prints and little scratches. It's no iPod, but then it doesn't cost the same as an iPod. Don't get me wrong, I like iPods, but I want to listen to music, not carry a fashion statement.
The USB interface is reasonably quick. Two external drives show up on the host PC: one is the Archos, the other is microSD slot in the Archos. It is apparently HCSD compatible but I haven't checked compatibility with 8GB cards. with 8GB internal memory this player is great value. With the card slot it is unbeatable.
Sound quality for MP3 and WMA is very good. The included headphones are not the best,(are the bundled units ever any good) but I've seen worse. There is also the usual video playback, files must be processed with the supplied software and the screen res isn't really up to this. It will also display jpegs, but the comment about the screen applies to this also. I was surprised to find an FM radio function - I hadn't checked the spec too carefully obviously - and I was equally surprised to discover how well it worked.
The interface is reasonably easy to use. I was frustrated to find that the file hierarchy only allows for 2 levels of nested folders - I like to use 3 for genre > band > album. Other than that it is excellent VFM. But for the file hierarchy, I would have given it 5*.
The USB interface is reasonably quick. Two external drives show up on the host PC: one is the Archos, the other is microSD slot in the Archos. It is apparently HCSD compatible but I haven't checked compatibility with 8GB cards. with 8GB internal memory this player is great value. With the card slot it is unbeatable.
Sound quality for MP3 and WMA is very good. The included headphones are not the best,(are the bundled units ever any good) but I've seen worse. There is also the usual video playback, files must be processed with the supplied software and the screen res isn't really up to this. It will also display jpegs, but the comment about the screen applies to this also. I was surprised to find an FM radio function - I hadn't checked the spec too carefully obviously - and I was equally surprised to discover how well it worked.
The interface is reasonably easy to use. I was frustrated to find that the file hierarchy only allows for 2 levels of nested folders - I like to use 3 for genre > band > album. Other than that it is excellent VFM. But for the file hierarchy, I would have given it 5*.