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Archos 605 Wi-Fi 30 GB Portable Media Player Review

Fantastic

"I have had my 605 80GB for 1 week. While waiting for delivery; I ripped 12 movies to .AVIs for an upcoming business trip to Honolulu[...], but no printed documentation. The pictures of this unit do not do it justice; it is attractive and very pleasing to operate. Hefty and solid; make sure you buy a nice case if you plan to travel with it. WOW!!!! The screen is beautiful. Elegant comes to mind as I explore this thing. It locked up a few times or I just got impatient and forced a shutdown. I immediately connected it to my computer to transfer my data. 12 movies + 10GB of Music (my whole library) + 5GB of Photos. Whew, that took a while even with USB2.0 and a fairly fast PC. Connected to my WiFi painlessly, and I updated the firmware. Works great and very easy. This seems to have eliminated the lockups. At HomeMovie playback is excellent, occasional dropped frames. Music playback interface is superb and the audio quality is astounding. Photo software works well, but it does bog down sometimes with my large photos (Nikon D40X produces 6MB image sizes). Again, the software works well and is easy to operate. The screen is incredible; smudge resistant; bright; and amazingly clear. It worked perfectly the remainder of the week before my trip (I played with it every night).On the RoadI bought the unit because I was facing a 10 direct flight. Here are my thoughts on the flight out here:Screen is gorgeous and sound is great on headphones.Bright sunlight from the cabin windows did not wash out the screen or cause glare (satin screen).Watched 2 movies on the main battery; unit shutdown while playing with photos shortly after second movie. I also bought the battery dock, so I hooked it up. I was only able to watch part of a third movie. The battery dock recharges the main unit battery instead of directly providing power to the main unit. This bites because I was watching a movie and using power faster than the battery dock was recharging my main battery and the unit shut down again. On the flight home I plan to hook up the battery dock right away.I can't say enough nice things about the 605. I also bought the home DVR dock, but will not try that until I get back home. If you travel, buy the battery dock, it is nice and comes with the cord to hook up to hotel TVs for watching movies in your room. I have since bought the web browser plugin and web surfing is actually good. Kudos to the folks at Opera for a nice browser, and to the Archos team for a slick control set. Overall, this unit is perfect except the shorter than advertised battery life. After a week of playing and a great trip due to the Archos inflight entertainment; I love the 605 and will not be returning it."