Alternative Ipod

Archos Recorder 20

Doesn't look too bad, does it? For $230 dollars it isn't. You can't even get a 5 gig iPod for that much.

Yah, I just bought one, 20 gigs of space, pretty decent battery life, not too ugly (mine is black, not blue...)

It's a nice price drop from the what...$500 for a 20 gig iPod? Yah, though so too :-D

But, with a 3rd party OS installed on it to make the interface better, this thing is awesome. (If you look on cNet for the reviews, there are some negative ones, but those people didn't try the alternate OS)

I bought mine from http://www.compuplus.com for $250, but they are at $230 right now (that pisses me off...LoL), so hop on the good deal and get yourself a sweet new mp3 player! 30 dollar rebate if you buy em before 02-09-03 too!

#11624

Bulky - Bulky - Bulky

but somebody might like it.

#11628

lol its a great great deal and a cool thing but id rather have a DVD burner for this price (i saw one for 130$ after rebate btw).

cool thing you got there.

*topic changed*

#11630

It actually looks big...but it isn't too big...

It weighs as much as a laptop hard drive though... (cuz that is what is in it...) LoL..., but for 300 dollars cheaper, you get a little added weight, yes?

Thanks Goku

#11631

well.i'd rather get the 5gig ipod than this 20gig

ipod just looks..... SOOO SEXY

in fact, the only MP3 player that i'll buy with my own money, ever, would and will be the ipod, unless something as good as the ipod comes out. and thats not the bulky thing u got there. just not for me

#11636

$300 extra for it's looks is a little too extreme for me. On top of that it doesn't sound as good as the Archos. It may be a little bulky and clunky looking but it sure goes great. As you may have guessed I have one and love it to bits (as long as you replace the 'phones) It's as fast as the Ipod, can record to MP3 on the fly (upto 160) from any source, has a mic built in, Line in, Digital in/out and makes a great hdd. Comes with 2 sets of batteries too.

Value-wise and sound-wise, the Archos beats it hands down, the Ipod does look pretty though. The 20Gb Ipod was still just a twinkle when I bought my player. It's a shame Apple likes to fleece it's customers so much, but then they've always made their profits from overpricing their hardware. I'd like to have one but they'd need to drop the price a good $200 before I consider it.

#11643

wow, this thing looks like it could rescue me in some kind of weird boating accident

It seems quite big. But from what you tell in your post Tony it seems cool, what OS did you

put on it?

Archos doesn't sound bad either....

#11647

http://rockbox.haxx.se/download/

This is what I'm using on mine.

#11665

It's a good choice, but you should've waited to save some more money because there's nothing compared with an iPod, I had mine (10 GB, for PC) for Christmas and I just can talk good things about it: the design, the sound, the capacity, .... everything.

I was looking for that Archos about a year ago, and it was a really good choice except for the weight, it's really heavy for my taste.. Boyz, those blue pieces are protections if someone was wondering....

sorry for my english, not sure that all that i've written is correct.

#11667

hey smeggy, I saw some pictures of the Archos on the link you gave, it's actually smaller than I thought it would be.

I don't mind a little weight, so I'll have a look at it...thanks!

#11676

I hate its looks but, considering what you can store in it and compared to iPod, it seems to be a good buy.

Maybe skinmakers should move from software to hardware and try to beautify this gadget

Have a nice day!

Ken

#11788

It's a good choice, but you should've waited to save some more money because there's nothing compared with an iPod, I had mine (10 GB, for PC) for Christmas and I just can talk good things about it: the design, the sound, the capacity, .... everything.

Actually, it is about as heavy as a hard drive...it still is heavier than the Ipod, but why buy a 5 gig like someone suggested when you can fit 4 times more on something for the same price.

I am using rockbox also :-D

And yes, that picture is huge I posted so it makes it look a lot bigger, before I got it I thought I might send it back because of the size, but it isn't big at all. It's worth the money, although it is ugly, but looks aren't everything... iPod is really awesome looking, but this works if you aren't picky about looks...like I said before, my bumpers on the sides of mine are black not blue like that picture. makes it look better

#11797

1) I dont really have that much of music

2) I barely listen to 5-10 songs, no more at the same time.

I do like music, but i wont buy a thing to store 1000 or 4000 songs, when i actually have 100, i hear 15 as much. It just fits my 64mb k@zoo. Where it can support 18 songs.

#11804

Then ya wouldn't need a hard drive mp3 player anyways

#11806

Personally, the newer Archos with the Movie Playback and tiny Color LCD screen would be my pick. Its the exact same price if not cheaper than the 20GB Ipod and allows you to store files, listen to music, and yes, WATCH MOVIES! That would defiently be my pics, bucause the Video playback just seems so awesome for the same price. Check it out at Cnet:

Pictoral:

C-Net's Review

#11808

Grainy LCD I heard...

Needs a little more work before I'd spend $350.

#11810

Well one nice thing about the Archos is that it's relatively easy to upgrade the HDD, I just ordered the new Toshiba 60GB drive for mine and at $185 on top of the Archos's base price plus a good $50 set of Sony Fontopia earbuds it's still cheaper than the Ipod and still sounds better

Sometimes style over substance is worth it, but not in this case. Now, what to do with that spare 20GB drive... hmmm

Smeggy

#11814

I only have 2 gigs of music right now...LoL...I will need to wait a while for that 60gig upgrade

#11963

Try converting all your CDs to mp3. That will help your HD feel not so empty

Have a nice day!

Ken

#11971

My MP3's probably only take up qabout 6-7GB, the rest is used as a fast portable HDD and emergency backup device which has saved my skin on a number of occasions. I was thinking of buying another portable drive when It just hit me... add a bigger drive to the archos and kill 2 birds with one stone. A 40GB portable drive (mini-size) is about $270+, I already have the Archos and the drive itself is relatively cheap. A few hours crowbaring the Archos open and it'll serve both purposes, plus it won't need any external PSU 'cos it's battery powered.

Sweet

#11978

wow, so it just uses laptop hardrives that u can buy or get just about anywhere? adn can u hook that 20gb to ur laptop?

this sounds amazing

#11981

Isn't this a better option?

Creative Nomad Zen (20Gb) MP3 player about $350 (I believe):

Click Here

Maybe it's not that hot in performance?

CNET User reviews

#12001

Wow! Looks like a hard drive!

Not bad at all!

#12012

Originally posted by VideoMann@Jan 30 2003, 01:10 AM

Isn't this a better option?

Creative Nomad Zen (20Gb) MP3 player about $350 (I believe):

Click Here

Maybe it's not that hot in performance?

CNET User reviews

wow, now thát seems even better than the archos!

how's the sound quality?

#12029

That was my first choice, but the Archos with the color screen is rated #1 on CNET and that is like, 3 or 4...I think the price is about the same too. Never used the Nomad though.

#12051