Archos 404 (30 GB, 7500 Songs) Digital Media Player

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.

Absolutely love this purchase. It arrived quickly and new in box as described. I bought this for my son who hates going with the girls shopping. With this item, I can record his favorite shows or movies from the tv straight to media player. Then when we go somewhere he is less than thrilled about, he has something to keep him preoccupied and not asking, "When are we going home?"

The Archos 404 is just slightly larger than an iPod and has a much larger screen. It is detected as a removable hard drive so you can just drag and drop your files (no need for crappy software like iTunes or Media Player to sync with your device. The bad: buttons do not light up you you must use tactile feeling to operate the device in complete darknes.

This Archos media player is very user friendly. The problem is figuring out what to do with all the memory it has. A friend of mine recorded several snow goose hunts and made a DVD with the footage. I sent it to all my hunting buddies and it got awesome reviews.

I would give it an Excellent rating if it wasn't for the fact that Archos makes you pay for $20 plug-ins to run DVD compatible video; MPEG2, and others.

it only can not be separated by files ,... like the Ipod .. playlist can not be splitI am performing a good rating ... none can tell about this product is one of my favorite one... to watch videos.. in my car.

Get a look at this first, and then you choose if you still believe it or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFKYVE__Mug

Don't get fooled by those other people claiming that you can get a Free Ipod, they're just trying to get people to complete offer for them and they really don't care about the people who does.

I'll e-mail every people that completed an offer and send them pictures of the Ipod I've received as proof so that you can get your refferal faster, I'll probably put a video too.

To make it clear, you register through the link I give you, you choose refferal account type and you complete an offer. You'll only need to do one offer.

There's this new offer called Care Bear something... You pay about 10$ for Care Bear stuff and you get your credit instantly. The good thing is that it's not like these other website or offers, you don't have any commitments about having to pay a huge amount of money each month like, I don't know... COLOMBIA HOUSE...

And if you don't like Care Bears that much, you can send them back their crap and they'll refund you.
After that, the hardest part for you to get your Ipod. Refferals... You'll need to get 5 to 8 people to complete an offer like you just like you did. Talk to friends (if you have some) or do as me (it doesn't mean I have no friends).

It's not that hard and it's pretty useful if you don't have the money to buy one.

So register with this link and complete an offer.

http://www.YourFreeVideoiPods.com/index.php?ref=4359581

and if you still have a hard time believing me. Just search for "Trainn Proof" on google. Trainn is the name of the enterprise letting you have free stuff.

I'm not some lame spam bot or anything, I'm a real person and I have bought things here on ebay, just look at my feedbacks.

I love the device. It's just what I needed. So I wanted the archos to plug my scope camera in it (doing arthrosocpy surgery) and record all my surgeries in that way. It is really nice, and in a very high quality definition. I kind of dislike that you have to get the dvr separatly to record, but it is really portable.
I had a good deal. New stuff is coming up, but I really did not need more than I got with the 404
Cheers!

This little known maker of hard drive based multimedia players has been cutting edge and ahead of the game since the first introductroduction of hard drive players, when ipod introduced its first hard drive based player with a non removable battery, archor released the slightly larger jukebox WITH the removable replaceable battery, and now unsurpassed streamlined entertainment. The 404 retails currently retails for around 220$ thats 30$ cheaper then the popular competitor Ipod video but this player proves that the rule you get what you pay for can be entirely wrong. This player sports a huge lcd, nearly unsurpassed format compatability and a beautiful alluminum casing that is to say the least scratch resistant. The player natively plays Divx, Xvid, WMV9 right out of the box and drag and drop convenience which to many audiophiles is a VERY important feature as opposed to the software dependant competitors but for the few that prefer the streamlining of playlist syncing, well you can do this to. One of the major hurdles in hard drive players offering drag and drop interface was the innability to play DRM content but not with this player, this problem was solved by offering the WMP10 sync option. Unfortunatly the unit does not include a wall adapter but it charges surprisingly fast on a standard 2.0 USB hub and the battery offers a slightly above average battery lifetime at about 10 hours full volume and bass boost enabled and about 3-4 hours video. If there was something to hate about this player is the costly extras to unlock some of the players interesting extra features such as the optional DVR station which currently retails for about 70$ but hey the docking station offers a huge upgrade to this player including multiple inputs and outputs for video, audio, and even data including a very slick host input which comes in handy for those thumb drives and card readers, and although it does not yet support any hard external hard drives at the moment it does show promise for this in the future, this combined with the intuitive remote interface would make a incredible set top replacement for TIVO(R) and DVD recorders as there is virtualy no monthly costs or discs to buy or scratch. This player also acts as a programmable scheduler which automatically tunes your digital cable box or vcr and records at a set time so that if you work strange hours like I do you don't have to miss that episode of your favorite show. This player supports VOB and AC3 audio for a 20 odd dollar firmware upgrade but any way you look at it the mpaa has made this illegal so if you were to copy your dvds it makes more sense to encode in Divx which plays natively on the player and it also supports podcasts for about the same price but if you have experianced this players vivid 16 million color screen then your less likely to be interested in content designed for the Ipods inferior 65 thousand color screen. All in all BUY THIS player if you are shopping for an affordable portable multimedia player that gives you more bang for your buck and make sure that you do the free firmare updates.