[7 of 7 customers found this review helpful]

Archos 605 160GB Review

Best Device I have Ever Owned

"This is a truly amazing device. It is often compared to the iPod Touch, so I think I will compare it to it as well, because people are likely fairly familiar with the iPod.

1. Looks---The Archos looks nice, but I would definitely have to say the iPod Touch is sleeker and overall just more attractive...however looks are the only thing that is better about the iPod.

2. Touch screen---Both devices have a touch screen. Both screens work quite nicely. The Archos also has tactile buttons on the right side, which are useful if you don't want to have fingerprints on the screen.

3. Internet---Both devices support wifi internet, and do a nice job of it. Both support most things, because they both allow you to surf the "real" internet. The Archos however allows the viewing of flash videos anywhere on the net, including youtube while the iPod can only play flash videos on youtube. Overall the Archos has better internet because of this video playing support.

4. Compatibility---This is the area where it begins to be clear that the Archos is a better device. Both products play the standard audio formats: aac, mp3, etc. However the Archos beats the Touch hands down when it comes to video compatibility. The Archos is capable of playing virtually any video format you throw at it, from avi to divx to mpeg4 to mpeg 2; it can even play pod casts. The iPod supports basically supports only its mpeg 4 videos. This means that for most things you will have to convert them to get them on the iPod, while you can put things on the Archos without a hassle of converting videos.

5. Capacity---No contest. The iPod touch has a 16 GB capacity for the same price as the Archos 160 GB! That is literally 10x the memory for the exact same price. The iPod does have a 32 GB version, but that is still only a fifth the size of the Archos...and it costs $100 more.

6. TV playback---With both devices you must buy a proprietary av cable/dock in order to play back on the TV. The Archos has several docks to choose from, including the battery dock, which is the same price as the iPod dock. The Battery dock allows the Archos battery to last 1.5x as long as well as plug into the TV.

7. TV recording---This simply does not exist on the iPod, so the Archos obviously wins. With the optional DVR stand, you can literally use the Archos just like a normal DVR. You browse through TV listings and choose what you want to record, and then it does. The DVR stand also charges the Archos, and allows it to playback on the TV. It even comes with a cool little remote that allows you to control the device. The remote has a full qwerty keyboard to make it easy to surf the net with your Archos on the TV if you'd like.

8. Battery Life---The Archos has a 17 hour battery life when it comes to audio and a 5.5 hour life for video while the iPod has 22 for audio and 5 for video. With the battery dock the Archos easily beats the iPod, but without it they are pretty even.

9. Putting music/videos on the device. The iPod uses iTunes to put both audio and video on it. The Archos, however gives you a choice to as how you'd like to manage your media. You can sync it to windows media player, manage it as an external hard drive, or even use iTunes. You can drag and drop anything from iTunes directly onto the Archos or, using iTunes Agent, sync it to it.

Overall, I would say that the Archos is a much better buy. The only thing I did not like about the Archos was that in order to play certain video/audio and to get the internet, you are required to buy a few plug-ins. The combined total to buy all of these plug-ins (many of which many people will not need or want) and the Archos, is still significantly cheaper than the 32 GB iPod Touch. However, even without the plug-ins, the Archos still has better compatibility than the iPod. The only downside to the Archos is that it is bigger than the Ipod. It still fits easily into your pocket, but it is certainly not as small as the iPod, which it makes up for by holding literally hundreds of movies.

In my opinion, this is the best video player around, and it does an equally good job at playing music. I would not hesitate to buy this device again, and would recommend it as highly as possible."