Archos 404 (30GB)

Pros: Small, Great Photo and Video viewer, recording, can edit and delete on the device(names, palylists etc.), built in speaker, dual interface(icons or navigator, which is a folder view), works as drive

Cons: Maybe some people would like it a bit smaller, occasional freezes, no line in recording right away, not iPod so it is a bit difficult to get accesories

Summary: I have had this since March and can say it is azmazing. I got it for $200, less than an iPod video, but now you can get it cheaper. The 404 along with music excells at playing videos and makes a great photo viewer. I had an iPod and you dont have to convert pictures to the device and you can zoom in. The amount you can zoom in depends on the pictures size.
As for recording there is a built in Mic, but its more of a novelty. With the travel dock you can input audio and video through AV cables. Unlike the new iPods you can output video through the headphone jack with AV cables.
With its Media Player Device and External Hard-Drive modes you can put any file you want on it and you can organize the folders however you want. Syncronizing is fast an painless. Also updating is fairly simple. You download a file and place it in the Archos. Then when you want to update you turn the device on and press update in the system menu.
One thing I like that I feel more players should have is the basic editing features. In the 404 you can move rename and delete songs. You can also create and edit playlists and entire folders.
On the review it says there were few EQ's but with the newest firmware you have many more options. One thing to note is that for additional languages you are told to download "Language Packs." There are none. They are somehow integrated into the updates but I dont know how. To get spanish I downloaded the Spain firmware which also gave me a dozen other languages.
Also one final note, some programs cant sycronize with the 404. I dont know why, the device just simply restarts. Napster is one of these but you can just use Windows Media Player. Amazon Unbox works fine though so you can still have a video source
Over all its a very solid and good device. It does have its few little glitches every once in a while but nothing as drastic as when my iPod froze and I had to wait for its battery to drain. The only bad side I can think of is the navigation. Its no big deal but takes a while to get used to. There are ridges to help you tell the buttons apart but if you cant tell them apart in the dark putting your hand above the screen to reflect some light helps. I highly recommend this to anyone, but if you want something for pure music you could go smaller.