Archos Vision 30c 4 GB Video MP3 Player with 3-Inch Touchscreen and FM Radio (Silver)

• 3-inch TFT LCD display
• FM Radio & Voice Recorder; 13hr Battery Life; USB 2.0; G-Sensor; Built-in Microphone; 4GB MP3 Player
• 13hr Battery Life; USB 2.0; G-Sensor
• Supports MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, APE; MPEG4, AVI, FLV, RMVB

This media player comes with 4GB of space. It has a nice feature set:

Touch screen interface, fm radio, recorder, video, mp3 and other music formats, and text file handling. It also features a calculator and calendar.

The included usb cable is the only means of charging hooking it to a computer. The player goes into a mode where it's a USB storage device and the unit can't be used while connected, whether just charging or moving files. There is no media manager or calendar sync software of any sort with the unit.

The screen was sluggish and not very response. I frequently had to select an action several times before it would take effect. This is MUCH worse than my Samsung touch screen phone or iPod touch. At the low price of this unit I don't expect the same quality of use. I also don't expect it to aggravate me into wanting to punch my finger through the screen. I did refrain.

I should say after my initial impression I went through the screen calibration and that was a frustration in exercise. Maybe this is a defective unit? It seemed the bottom of the screen is less sensitive than the top by quite a bit.

When I had it plugged into my computer I tried to play some of the mp3 sample files on my computer using windows media player. This is using the latest version in XP SP3 and fully updated. Bummer windows media player got hung-up on the 2nd file I tried to listen to and forced a hard (hold the power button in) restart. I don't know what caused this and I didn't want to try to reproduce the problem given the result the first time.

I checked for firmware updates on the Archos web site and none were available when I checked.

the mp3 files on the unit as samples were all recorded with very low volume. My impression of the ear buds is they are what I would expect with a low end unit. Nothing impressive but not disappointing either.

The video on the unit was an avi format file. A animation which included a chipmunk smashing a butterfly with a rock and playing with the dead butterfly's wings... not a good choice in my opinion.

On all the included sample media I listened to the audio levels seemed very low. The video quality was OK. No video out of any sort.

The FM radio was preset to the European region. When I went into the FM settings to change these to USA settings and to auto-scan for stations I was in for more disappointment. I had to go back and change those settings again to get them to stick. The selection of FM stations with the headphones as the FM antenna was poor. I get a bunch of FM stations clearly but this unit only picked up a couple clearly. Most had very noticeable hiss and static. Hey, FM no static at all? Huh? Manual tuning let me receive more stations but other than two, none very well.

I have an OLD Toshiba walkman clone (yes a cassette player) with FM. I compared this 1980's player with the Archos 3oc FM. The Toshiba brought in good FM most of the stations came in clearly, no static, some with noticeable hiss. Only manual tuning on that old thing, but compared to this new Archos device technology has not made positive progress over the years!

For me the FM was a nice feature until I tried to make it work. This was too bad.

I didn't try the voice recorder, so there might be a good possibility for some redeeming feature. I'm not losing sleep about not getting to this.

So one star is what I give this. I don't know about Archos other products but this one made a poor first impression on me.

Buy Archos Vision 30c 4 GB Video MP3 Player with 3-Inch Touchscreen and FM Radio (Silver) Now

The MP3 player is already set with 4MG memory but HUGE drawback you cannot add anymore memory to this player. I was very frustrated with the quality of this product. I found it difficult to transfer music from my computer's music library. When a miracle does happen and music is added the playback is just awful. The player either dies out or the quality of sound is not up to par. The touchscreen feature is nice but depending how you move the player the screen switches back and forth to either a horizontal menu or vertical which I found really annoying. I guess you do get what you pay for. My suggestion would be to save your money and purchase an Apple iPod. Please please please do not buythis. You will be very dissapointed.

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I would have given this media player 5 stars for the money if Archos had included a micro sd slot. As it is, it is still a handy little device for a reasonable price. It does not have the feel, the fit, or the touchscreen quality of an iPod Touch (which is about four times as expensive). This is very much a low budget experience, but if you want video and touch in a small package without spending a ton of money, this is a pretty good deal. For the money.

It doesn't sync with iTunes, but dragging and dropping is actually easier for me with my media library spread across a couple of computers (one of which is a pc).

I was able to charge it and get it up and running without even looking at the manual. It charges via the usb port, so you can either plug it into a powered port on your computer or plug the usb cable into an adapter. I used the one I plug my iPhone cable into, and it charged right up.

When I plugged it into my computer (a Mac), it was recognized immediately, and I had no trouble moving files onto it and off of it. Photos and videos look great. The sound quality is excellent again, for the money.

The touchscreen is plasticky and looks like it could scratch. It works pretty much exactly like the bottom screen on an NDSL: you want to think more in terms of tapping than in terms of touching. Battery life is more than enough for a feature length movie. It hasn't run out et, but I will update the review when I know how long it lasts during continuous use.

I wasn't really sure I needed this, since I do have an iPhone, but I'm finding it very convenient to be able to load this with content I don't necessarily want to have permanently (new songs I'm not sure I want to carry everywhere, or videos I'll only watch once) and play my content without draining the battery on my phone. There is plenty of room in my purse and my life for this.

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The Archos Vision 30c 4 GB Video MP3 Player with 3-Inch Touchscreen and FM Radio comes loaded with features. You can play music (it supports MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, and APE), and even see the lyrics on the screen if you want to. It has an FM radio and you can record songs from the radio onto the MP3 player (you can also record your own voice if you need to remind yourself of something). It plays videos (it is equipped to play AVI, MPEG-4, FLV, and RMVB video files). It also stores photos (it comes preloaded with photos and a movie). Finally, it comes with a calendar and calculator.

While the Archos Vision 30c 4 GB Video MP3 Player sounds good on paper, it fails to live up to its promise. The biggest problem is the touch screen it simply doesn't work well. You have to touch it several times to get it to work and when you do get it to work it often takes you to the wrong screen or locks you out. The screen shows the fingerprint marks (probably from my repeated tapping to try to get it to work) much more than other touch screen devices I have). Another problem is the on/off button there is a switch on the bottom that turns it on and another button to get it working this seems like overkill to me. Once I do get it working there are some nice features. The one I use the most is the FM Radio, which seems a bit of a waste of an MP3 player. I like the ability to record songs as they are playing but since the touch screen technology is so wonky, I often end up capturing the songs in the middle rather than from the beginning. For a small screen, the videos are remarkably crisp, but I'd rather watch them on a larger screen. The picture sharing is another nice feature although the preloaded pictures are a bit of a waste. The MP3 player is nice and light but has no clip to anchor it to a belt if you wanted to listen to music while exercising. Finally, the headphones that come with it are very uncomfortable.

I was very disappointed with the Archos Vision 30c 4 GB Video MP3 Player.

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What the heck do I mean by that?

Well, the Archos is a bit big for what is essentially an MP3 player with benefits. FM radio is nice, but not nice enough to sacrifice size. The screen is decent sized compared to an ipod, but smaller than the smart phone that you probably also have. It has a touch screen, but not one as good as any Apple products of most smart phones. It's not particularly expensive, which is a bit of a plus, but I don't think it will replace any other device that most folks are using.

Bottom line: if this were the absolute only MP3 video device you could afford, it is mostly passable for the things it tries to do. I guess that is both its niche and its epitaph: mostly passable.