- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 15 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
2.0 stars
"Definitely a MEDIA player with a fritzy, though very comprehensive interface."
Pros: large bright screen with large viewing angle, comprehensive and easy to use interface, great media compatibility, great media playback, great battery life
Cons: Must purchase software for Mpeg 1, podcast, and DVD playback, not very portable, prone to freezing, volume buttons not lockable, pricey accessories with redundant features, no search function
Summary: At first look, the Archos 504 looks like a media player that rivals or even surpasses the iPod. It has a larger screen, much greater media compatibility, a straight forward interface, and a battery life befitting of a commuter or a frequent flier.
Long have I looked for a portable media player that paralleled the iPod, and I thought I had found it in the Archos 504. It should have been my first clue that I couldn't find a working in-store model anywhere, but I didn't care. I saw the vibrant screen of other players in the same line, the smooth interface, the stylish buttons, the great video.
The first thing that I noticed about the Archos 504 was the earbuds. Better in many ways than most, and more comfortable. They would most certainly be a good fallback pair.
Like the iPod, the 504 was expected to charge through USB before purchase of a $30 charger, or a $100 AV station. This gave me a good opportunity to upload my media. To do this easily, it required connecting it as a windows media player device. I queued up all of my music for transfer, and made the mistake of leaving it alone with my computer. Big mistake. When I returned, the 504 had shut down, and media player had aborted the transfer. I booted the 504 back up, and tried the transfer again. After media player recognised many of the songs as already present, it found the point at which it had left off, and transferred two songs before the 504 shut down, and the process was aborted. I then found the song at which it had left off, and removed all of the songs that preceded it in the transfer list. The rest of the transfer went off without a hitch.
The fact that the player does not play Mpeg1 videos is rather annoying, but I had planned on getting the upgrade pack anyways, so I didn't worry.
During playback of music, I found that the player would freeze or shut down, and either have to be turned back on, or be reset. This is a major deterrent if one plans to mountain bike or snowboard with the player secured to a belt clip (also sold separately) or tightly secured inside a pocket.
-the ultimate demise of the Archos 504-
How did this media player fail? It did not get dropped, it did not randomly explode like a cell phone battery or an iPod screen, it fell asleep to undergo an operation, and never woke up.
Since the Archos 504 does not come with support software, it does not detect updates, and it can not undergo a computer-assisted USB connection. These are two of three elements that lead to my returning the unit (but that is another story).
Interested in why the player was shutting down during use so frequently, I ventured to the Archos website to look for a firmware update. Sure enough, there was one. I loaded the new firmware on to the Archos 504, and began installing it. The installation was quick and painless, at the end of which, the system asked my permission to restart itself. I allowed it, and that was the moment in which the Archos 504 went into the big sleep. The screen froze, and I watched as the life faded from the screen. After minutes of weighing the consequences, I decided to reset the unit. After 12 seconds of holding down the power button, it turned off. When it turned back on, it was not the same player as went under the knife. That?s right, it was not the sleek interface that greeted me, it was the infamous BLACK SCREEN OF DEATH. I tried both reset buttons on the player, but neither would remedy the problem. It was stuck in limbo between firmware versions. It could not even be recognised by my computer, because, of course, the connection had to be established by the player. I couldn't even get my content off of it. The smartest geeks could not find a way to remedy this problem.
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