MP3/video player recommendations

[gadgetman]

Right. The video playback is the main issue for me.

I could probably live with something that would work with converted video as long as it still supports 'standard' video rather than its own proprietary format. For example my Vario III will play back unconverted 640x382 divx but works better if I downscale it to 320 x 240 (ish) using PocketDivxEncoder.

The Sansa (and the Zen V Plus) have their own strange proprietary video formats and you have to use their own tools for conversion (usually because of hardware limitations).

Proprietary applications are definitely out as is the requirement to install drivers to access the device or transfer video e.g. iPod. I hate iTunes with a vengeance!

[G8_Summit]

Thanks for that. After your post I just researched in Amazon and unfortunately it got a bit of a panning (lots of extras to pay for, slow wi-fi, file system corruption, very slow charging, washed-out colours).

Shame, as my AV500 is brilliant.

Anything else to look at?

I have nothing but admiration for my 605 Wifi. Yes you have to pay about £20 for the add-ons to connect to the web and some encoders, but I have not had any problems with washed out colours etc.
You can get a mains USB charger which only takes an hour or so for charging.
You can even import Flash games into it as the Opera browser supports them.

Go Archos

[Cowboy Bob]

Proprietary applications are definitely out as is the requirement to install drivers to access the device or transfer video e.g. iPod. I hate iTunes with a vengeance!

Erm, contrary to popular opinion you don't need iTunes to access an iPod.

For Windows, you need something like Anapod
For Mac, CopyGear
For Linux, well the built in file browser will work out of the box.

iPods are standards USB devices, they just have a small file that acts as a hash to find the tracks. This is a legacy thing from the early days to speed up the hard drive access on them and all the extra software does is keep this file up to date.

[gadgetman]

I have first hand experience (on a 2nd gen iPod) and used to use ephpod in preference to iTunes.

It was still clunky and you couldn't copy files off the iPod (well you could but they were given random filenames). I know lots of users are quite happy with iPod/iTunes so I don't want to start a war but its not for me. I want a device I can treat like a hard drive - without drivers.

Erm, contrary to popular opinion you don't need iTunes to access an iPod.

For Windows, you need something like Anapod
For Mac, CopyGear
For Linux, well the built in file browser will work out of the box.

iPods are standards USB devices, they just have a small file that acts as a hash to find the tracks. This is a legacy thing from the early days to speed up the hard drive access on them and all the extra software does is keep this file up to date.

[gadgetman]

Okay, you've convinced me to look at this again.

I have nothing but admiration for my 605 Wifi. Yes you have to pay about £20 for the add-ons to connect to the web and some encoders, but I have not had any problems with washed out colours etc.
You can get a mains USB charger which only takes an hour or so for charging.
You can even import Flash games into it as the Opera browser supports them.

Go Archos

[gadgetman]

With my AV500 you got a 'dock' which allows recording and TV out but you can also buy a travel cable (essentially just a cable adapter) which does the TV out so you don't need to lug the dock around. Is there an equivalent for the 605?

Also are there any forums (official or otherwise) where the player is discussed?

Any recommended suppliers for the accessories?

I have nothing but admiration for my 605 Wifi. Yes you have to pay about £20 for the add-ons to connect to the web and some encoders, but I have not had any problems with washed out colours etc.
You can get a mains USB charger which only takes an hour or so for charging.
You can even import Flash games into it as the Opera browser supports them.

Go Archos

[KevinS]

Does my perfect device exist?

I know this is an old thread, but I think this little unit being reviewed by RegHardware is worth the revival in case anyone else is looking for something similar as the OP..

Seems to tick all the boxes, except maybe the size.. See the review here..

[daviejones]

I have just bought the 32GB iPOD Touch and it really is an amazing bit of kit....

I would recommend a look...

[KevinS]

I'm sure it is wonderful, but the OP didn't want to look at anything 'i' due to the requirement of Apple bloatware (aka iTunes) and only wanted a unit that "supports drag and drop file transfer (without drivers)".

[gadgetman]

Looks really good. Only downside for me is that this is a hard drive player whereas I was after flash-based (I only skimmed the review so may have missed something).

I ended up with the Archos for £118 from Amazon. Just waiting for the mini dock and an 8Gb SD (£17.99 from play) to complete the setup.

FWIW I'm very pleased with it. It plays all of my avi's without conversion and I have streamed video, pictures and music from my server locally over wifi and can access it remotely using the web browser. I have stopped using my laptop on the train to watch video.

If you want a flash-based player I'm happy to recommended it but for a hard drive player the Cowon looks unbeatable.

I know this is an old thread, but I think this little unit being reviewed by RegHardware is worth the revival in case anyone else is looking for something similar as the OP..

Seems to tick all the boxes, except maybe the size.. See the review here..