Rip, borrow, steal: MP3 players for pirates

Donald Bell
Donald Bell Senior Editor August 22, 2008
We certainly don't condone doing anything illegal, but let's face it: it's not hard to run afoul of the ambiguous laws surrounding digital music and movies these days. Whether you're guilty of ripping a DVD to your computer or borrowing your friend's media hard drive, few of us are squeaky clean when it comes to digital entertainment. Most manufacturers don't want to help those who would rather "steal" music and video than pay for it; however, there are a few MP3 and video players out there that look the other way.

The Cowon A3, for instance, is natively compatible with the DivX video format commonly found on P2P networks and includes built-in inputs for recording shows and movies directly from your TV. If you prefer to do your pirating outdoors, the slim design and high-grade microphones on the Yamaha Pocketrak 2G will let you capture live concert recordings incognito.

The unassuming Toshiba Gigabeat U has a line-input recording feature that encodes music directly to WMA files, automatically splits tracks, and works like a charm for ripping Internet radio or subscription music when connected to your computer's audio output. The Mac/PC-compatible Cowon iAudio 7 has an identical recording feature, but also records from its built-in radio.

Finally, if you're willing to spend a little extra to outfit the Archos 605 WiFi with a few software plug-ins and accessories, you'll be able to play the full-resolution DVD VOB video files, or make scheduled recordings from your TV using the optional DVR station. Yarrr!

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Product Archos 605 WiFi (30GB) Editors' choice
Price $219.95
CNET editors' rating 4 stars
Average user rating 3 stars
Release date August 30, 2007
Bottom line
The Archos 605 WiFi portable video player is one of the best mobile distractions money can buy.
Product Description

Archos 605 WiFi - Digital AV player

Device Type

Digital AV player

Dimensions (WxDxH)

4.8 in x 0.6 in x 3.2 in

Weight

6.7 oz

Key Features

Digital photo viewer

External HDD function

Digital audio player

Digital video player

Hard Drive

30 GB

Display Type

4.3 in TFT

Supported Still Images Formats

JPEG

BMP

PNG

Supported Audio Formats

PCM

MP3

ADPCM

WMA

Protected WMA (DRM)

WAV

Video Playback Formats

MPEG-4

WMV

Protected WMV (DRM)

PC Interfaces

Hi-Speed USB

IEEE 802.11g

IEEE 802.11b

Battery

Internal Rechargeable - Lithium polymer

Included Accessories

USB cable

Carrying pouch

Stereo headphones

Full specifications Full specifications
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