Archos 504 40GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500869)

• Lightweight and portable digital video, movie, music player and photo viewer with easy-to-use, intuitive controls
• 40 gigabyte hard disk lets you store up to 20,000 songs, 400,000 pictures, or 113 regular movies or 29 DVDs
• Compatible with MP3, WAV, WMA and protected WMA music files, JPEG, BMP, MPEG Picture files
• Uses high-speed USB 2.0 for both file transfers and charging
• Lets you play music through a stereo or videos over your TV via an optional docking station, weighs only 11.15 ounces

I am now the proud owner of an Archos 404, after spending one traumatic month having owned, in my opinion, the far inferior Archos 504.

Inferior, you say? But the 504 has a larger 4.3" screen, better battery life, a removable battery, and much larger Hard drive capacities (even for the 40 GB). How then, can I say that it is a far inferior product? Well, primarily because the Archos 404 actually works, while the 504 (much to my dismay) does not.

You see, beneath that beautiful metallic exterior and beautiful screen of the Archos 504 lies a niggling problem that Archos doesnt want you to know about, especially if you live in a hot and dry location. This product is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, sensitive to Electro Static Discharge (ESD), and hangs almost instantaneously if you expose it to even the slightest amount of static. Using this player had become an absolute nightmare for me. Whenever I was listening to music, and would for example want to see which track is playing or skip to the next track etc., I would simply touch the player (whether in its case or outside), and not even press a button, and it would hang instantly. Soon after, I actually used to become nervous every time I needed to touch the player, and soon developed a habit of beforehand touching a metallic object (eg. doorknob) every time I needed to use the player. Needless to say, when one has to do such things just to touch a device, it kind of ruins the experience of owning that device. The 404 suffers from none of these problems, I have been using it for over a month now, and it has not even frozen once.

Having said that however, I still give this product two stars instead of just one, because a) the video playback is very good (much better than the 404, and not only because of the larger screen), b) the battery life is decent, and the battery is removable and c) it offers capacities larger than most other video players available today.

As for the sound, anyone interested in an Archos 04 series product should know that the volume on these players is significantly lower than the others, even with the latest firmware 1.6.20. I have made a direct comparison using the same pair of headphones with the 5G iPod, iPod Nano, Cowon A2, Cowon X5, and Creative Zen Vision M, either owned by me or by friends, and they are all louder than the Archos. Better, I cannot say, as that is subjective, but certainly and verifiably much louder.

Buy Archos 504 40GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500869) Now

The Archos 504 is everything I hoped it would be. It is necessary to order the adapter kit to tape TV shows, but the ease of use and picture quality is great. The sound is good, but could be a little louder.

Read Best Reviews of Archos 504 40GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500869) Here

Decent Value for what you get. Glad I didnt shell out the 300-400 bucks for it when it first came out. Yes, as other reviewers mentioned, to get all of the functionality that is advertised, you'll have to shell out more money. Also, as mentioned by other reviewers, the case that comes with this unit isnt adequate. The design is poor and wont protect the unit if you drop it.

This unit is best used if completely stationary. It freezes when moving, so not great for MP3's when on the move (walking at a fast pace). Obviously, because of its size and weight, AND propensity to freeze, not good for jogging.

Yes, there might be a static issue that some people have claimed causes the unit to shut downI haven't experienced this. But another reason the unit freezes is that you are carrying around a laptop-hard drive (you can see it when you remove the battery).

These drives are designed to stop working when too much movement occurs. This is done to make sure that your hard-drive doesnt crash and you lose all of your information. If you know anything about hard drives, you know that this was a big problem with early hard-drive designs.

Not sure why they didnt just design these with solid state memory (the kind you see in most mp3 playersmaybe cost related). At any rate, just be prepared to remove the battery and snap it back in, if the unit freezes.

The only other issue I've experienced is the unit freezing when I was recording a presentation(obviously the unit was stationary). It froze sometime during the recording. When I reset the unit, the data from the recording was corrupted and therefore lost. Yes, not pleased to learn this the hard way!

BUT, it does well to serve as a great portable media unit to use when in a car, on a plane, or to switch info back and forth from your PC to have on the go. Also, if you get the travel DVR unit and the additional cable to play on your tv, you can both record dvd's, tv programs, AND play stuff on your TV (but again have to shell out additional money). You'll also have to invest more if you want the proper codecs that let you play additional formats. BUT I'm cool with just having .AVI and MP3's for now.

In re to powering this thing up: Not a big deal plugging into my laptop at home or work. It powers up just fine. Not sure how well the "very hard to get ac adater cable" is, but you'll be fine without it. I think you can get a 3rd party one for around 20 bucks, but again you don't really need it in my opinion.

The sound from the speakers aren't great, but most portable units dont have great soundthat is if they even have external speakers at all. Make sure to get your own set of headphones, dont use the ones that come with the unit. The sound that is played from my personal headphones is adequate. Not supurb, but not terrible.

Also, you can buy an additional battery for the unit, which is nice. I havent had to need a replacement, as you would only really need this for really long trips.

Overall, not a bad price for what it does. Definitely some flaws. I would not purchase any of the more expensive models until I was sure these flaws were addressed.

You can get this unit from Walmart with the mini-dvr adapter for the same price you see here. If you want the most from this unit however, for another 80 bucks, you can get the full-sized DVR unit. But, it's not really all that travel friendly. Think I covered everything. Hope this review is helpful!

Want Archos 504 40GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500869) Discount?

Beware! Despite the high cost of Archos PMPs, there is virtually no technical and after-sales support in the United States. Calls to the Archos US service center, which they claim is always open, go unanswered for hours and hours. This callous behavior and contempt for customers is begging for a class action lawsuit from Archos US customers.

How can they honor their warranty if they cannot be contacted?

Getting an RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) number from their US offices located in Colorado is a nightmare. I got one email from them to provide additional information; I did and they never responded. Their RMA site is buggy and would not give accurate information.

Their players are good, but pray that you don't have an after sale issue then you are on your own.

The first one that I received did not work out of the box. It would not even accept a firmware upgrade. The second unit required 3 phone calls to technical support and 2 hours to get it to accept a firmware upgrade. After it would finally accept new music, there was a staticky hiss so loud that it drowned out the music on low volumes. The third unit accepted the firmware upgrade immediately so I was hopeful. It also had the hiss that was so loud I couldn't listen to music on it. I'm giving up and will now try another brand.