OTHER TECH

Archos Great picture and easy to use

AV400

DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 5 x 3.25 x 0.875 inch WEIGHT 9.75 ounces PRICE $500 MANUFACTURER Archos, archos.com, 949-900-1900

Plus

•Classy Styling. •Good video and audio quality. •IR emitter for timer recordings. •Easy to use.

Minus

•Relatively heavy •Requires cradle or optional adapter for A/V connections. •No MP3/WMA ripping.

Key Features

•3.5-inch (diagonal), 320 x 240-pixel LCD screen •20-GB hard drive (80- or 100-GB available) •cradle for recharging, A/V connections •CompactFlash slot •IR emitter to control cable/satellite box for timer recording •video formats records MPEG-4 SP (AVI); plays MPEG-4 SP(AVI), DivX, Xvid •audio formats records WAV; plays MP3, WMA, WAV •digital image formats JPEG, BMP •tested battery life (playback only) video, 4.25 hours; audio, 11.5 hours

The Archos AV400 is a snappy-looking player, with a brushed-metal chassis and controls that are nicely clustered where your fingers naturally fall. I liked the rubber bumpers at each corner - they feel good in the hand, resist dinging, and may just provide some shock resistance the player needs to survive that inevitable fall. As a CompactFlash devotee, I also appreciated the side-loading CF slot (Type I only). The AV400 comes with a cradle that doubles as a charging station and I/O base that plugs into your computer or A/V source component.

IMPORTING AND MANAGING FILES The supplied CD-ROM includes iTunes plug-ins for your Mac (the operating system takes care of the rest) and lots of goodies for your PC: Windows Media Player 9 so you can easily rip music to WMA files and download them to the player via its USB port, installers for content providers like Napster, MusicMatch Jukebox (a CD ripper and file-management utility), and Archos MPEG-4 translator (which converts AVI files of various formats into the one compatible with Archos players). After filling up the 20-GB drive (larger sizes are available) with music, you can select tracks by artist, album, song title, genre, or year. You can also create playlists of up to 5,000 songs.

USABILITY The excellent onscreen interface made this player easy to use despite the small controls. Its display has a PC-like feel and is intuitive to navigate. Menus are filled with nice touches, such as graphic icons that change shape when you select them, and the screens display a lot of information without being confusing. For example, music tracks are accompanied by a large thumbnail of the album, song titles, and other info.

Although you can copy files to the Archos from a computer through its USB port, there are no direct A/V input/output jacks. To get signals in or out, you have to put the player in its cradle and use the cradle's A/V cables. Unfortunately, you might not always have the cradle handy when you want to dub something, and the only workaround is to buy an optional adapter cable. On the upside, once the Archos is cradled, you can use the supplied remote (not shown) to control it from across the room - tough if you're watching the tiny screen, but useful if you're jacked into your big-screen plasma. The supplied infrared (IR) emitter is a nice touch since it lets the Archos select channels on a cable or satellite TV box so you can make timer recordings.

VIDEO PERFORMANCE Although the Archos screen is rated as only 320 x 240 pixels, it looked very good. I liked its quasi-widescreen shape and the level of picture detail, which seemed a clear cut above the competition here. Contrast was good and color reasonably good for a small screen. Motion was also smooth and natural looking. On some files, the audio was slightly out of sync with the picture - a problem I found to some degree with all these devices. But on the Archos it wasn't really a problem. To my surprise, my review sample dutifully dubbed copy-protected DVD movies from two DVD players that I tried.

MUSIC PERFORMANCE Music sounded pretty good via the supplied earbuds, and things improved even more when I swapped them out for better earphones. The sound was loud, with reasonably low distortion. But I was supremely bummed that the Archos can rip only WAV files - I wish it could rip MP3 or WMA files (though it can download and play those you've ripped on your computer or acquired elsewhere). On the upside, it lets you adjust input recording levels - an important perk. The tiny speakers in pocket video players will never win any sound-quality awards, but they do make sound, and those in the Archos will suffice for watching a video in a pinch.

BOTTOM LINE The Archos AV400 is an excellent multimedia recorder/player. Its screen looks great, it packs all the features you'll probably want most, and it's easy to use. The AV400 has what it takes to go up against the mighty iPod.