 Archos Does It Again Review created: 01/11/07(updated 01/11/07) 11 of 12 people found this review helpful.
Hello, and welcome to my review of the Archos 404. I have other Archos reviews of their Jukebox 20GB,AV500,504 160GB, and 506 WiFi, please view them as well. I have much knowledge of Archos and their outstanding products. Their the 1st company to introduce a 20GB,100GB, and 160GB mobile storage, as well as WiFi and Touchscreen onto a MP3 Player, excusing say a Blackberry or Palm Pilot.
Pros: Small size, Quality just as good as the others in the 4 series (404,504,604) Same interface and menu design, Firmwire upgrades, decent price
Cons: Small size, battery life, storage size.
When I saw this on eBay, I went stright to Archos's main page to see more, I was corious about this, just to find out that it had two older brothers in the series. Here we go:
Size
100 x 78 x 15 mm – 3.9” x 3” x 0.59”
So about 1/2 the size of the 504 or 604, smaller isn't always better. Due to the smaller size, you end up with shorter battery life (Which is already small to being with) and videos seemed crammed on a small screen. It also cuts down how much can be stored on the hard drive. It's understandable that technology is making things smaller these days, but with the 404, it has a 30GB to boot, thats the same size as the 604 and 604 Wifi.
Battery
I really don't have to explain too much here, like in all my other reviews, Archos needs improvment in this area. This model isn't any expection since it's even smaller.
Videos can play for about four to six hours
Music can play for about 12 hours or less
*Changing the screen brightness in the options and how the hard drive works will give you some added hours of playtime
Audio/Video Playback
I'm getting sick and tired of repeating what they can or can't play so I'll simply list
Can
Video: AVI, MPEG-4,WMV (Through a download:(h.264 codec(OGM,MKV), and .VOB)
Audio:MP3,WAV,WMA (Though a download: ACC,AC3,OGG, Vorbis)
I must note, through a download also means $20.00 and a download. h.264 is a video format that allows for a special kind of video formats to be played, for the most part it means Dual audio files and .VOB, which allows DVD's to be played. Wish Archos didn't charge for this though.
Can Not
Video: MP4,DivX,XviD
Audio: Lossless, Flac,ACE,Ape
I don't see why Archos can't simply allow you to Drag and Drop codecs into a folder that regularly updates itself or through Firmware upgrades, I mean they have a Plug in for iTunes, a PMEG4 Translator, Virtual Dub,WMP Reader, and Acrobat Reader, so why not something like a Codec Reader? It would alot easier on the users.
I think if this thing had a bigger Hard drive, maybe even 50GB or 75GB with Touchscreen like the 604 WiFi has, this could be an awesome product. The price isn't too bad either, but due to the smaller size hard drive, thats probably why this unit is clocked at $299.99 Retail or $254.99 on eBay, with some other Price comparison sites like PriceGrabber.com, Bizrate.com,tigerdirect.com and Newegg all averaging about $255 to $269
This is a fairly decent model, but not for those who need to hold their whole DVD collection or Discograhies, I'd suggest the 504 160GB
For those who want a more Blackberry/PDA/Palm Pilot feel, I'd suggest the 506 WiFi w/TouchScreen
And this has been my review of the Archos 404 30GB.
Review ID: 10000000002752343  Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our guidelines, it will be posted within 24 hours. You cannot vote on the helpfulness of a review you wrote. Your request cannot be processed at this time. Please try again later.   Archos 404...86'd my 604 8 of 9 people found this review helpful.
I have owned several Archos media players over the years...AV420 & AV500 also the AV700. And the latest 04 series is definitely the best yet from Archos. I bought the 604 when it first came out to replace my AV500, and despite a few firmware bugs early on, that Archos was able to fix by updating firmware, and putting it on there website for downloading, the unit has been awesome in every aspect! Then came the 404. I saw it, and really liked the size of the unit, it is truly pocketable so I bought it. And even though it is 4:3 ratio, and the screen res is only 320x240 compared to the 604's widescreen, side by side I have to say the 404's color, and contrast ratio is much better, with darker blacks, and vivid blues and reds. The 404 has a matte finish to the LCD compared to the glossy finish of the 604 which tends to produce alot of glare, and that really effects the image quality of the 604. Both units interface, and menus are the same so the only difference is the screen size, and resolution. As an MP3 player there great! audio quality is good especially if you encode your music at 160kbs or higher. The 04 series has a five band EQ for customizing sound. I love my movies, but I love my music collection more so the 404 goes with me everywhere because it is just so much more convenient to carry, so if you have movies that are 1.33 ratio (fullscreen) put those on the 404 they look great! sound quality from the speaker is adequate for watching on the go. If you are more into the DVD movie experience with widescreen flicks get the 604 it has a nice built in kickstand for tabletop viewing, but starts to get a little bulky in your pocket so keep that in mind. Battery life is about the same for both units, I get 4 1/2 hours of video playback, and about 9 hours of music playback with the LCD backlight off. So to conclude this, I would say if Archos had put the 404 & 604 on the market at the same time I would have bought the 404 it is just a slick little digital swiss army knife, and about $50 to $60 bucks less than the 604. Before I close there's one more thing I should mention the 404's battery is not user replaceable, unless you have access to a small phillips screwdriver, and are not afraid to open it up. The 604's battery clips on the back of the unit. Happy Hunting!
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