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Best Value MP3 Player for Storage Space, Music, Video, Photos

  • 10-10-2008 03:39PM
    #1
    hamrog
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭


    Hi,

    I currently have a Zen Vision M 30gb which pretty much suits me fine in that I can have all my music, videos and photos in the one place. It's also very good in that I can play videos from it on the TV with a connector I bought and I can dock in my Playdock which charges it and also turns it into a stereo system.

    My one complaint is that at 30gb I'm rapidly running out of space. Does anyone have any recommendations on MP3 players with large disk space over 60gb that can do all of the above i.e. play, music, video, photos, connect to TV, and have a docking station accessory that can be used as a speaker.

    I'm a little concerned about IPods as I've heard they're quite restrictive in the way you can transfer music on to them.

    Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.


Comments

  • #2
    pleasant Co.
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 7,594 Mod ✭✭✭✭pleasant Co.


    I was going to suggest the new Cowon O2, but that doesnt have a dock...

    So, how about the new Archos 5? or is that too large?


  • #3
    hamrog
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭hamrog


    Thanks Mactard,

    I'll check out the Archos - I don't want to rule anything out. i'm not too concerned about the physical size of it - have you an Archos yourself, how do you find it?

    Anyone else have any other mp3s to suggest looking at?

    Hamrog


  • #4
    ellobee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 366 ✭✭ellobee


    The Archos is worth checking out, I have a 605 myself with a 160gb of space and I absolutely love it , I have over 100 full length movies, tons of music and photos on it and you can get a docking station for your tv , what I really like is the facility to record from your tv , most Thursday mornings you'll catch me on the bus into work watching heroes recorded from bbc2 the night before.
    but a word of warning the new Archos 5 is just out and the word is it's extremely buggy on the other hand there are some good deals out there on the 605 but as with most Archos products you need to pay extra for plug-ins for the web browser and you also need a plug-in to play back movies in certain formats, so it all adds up, but IMO worth every penny.


  • #5
    hamrog
    Closed Accounts Posts: 105 ✭✭hamrog


    Thanks ElloBee,

    Archos 605 looks very good and with that amount of space it seems to fit the bill - the record from TV function would be very handy also.

    Do you have a speaker dock system that would make it a very compact home stereo system as well?

    Thanks for taking the time to reply.


  • #6
    ellobee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 366 ✭✭ellobee


    No, There is no speaker dock for the 605 but it does have an audio out socket which will connect to most speaker systems with a 3.5mm jack
    there are a lot of connection options on the docking system and I have mine connected to my home cinema system and it works perfectly but to be honest I don't use it that much to watch stuff on the tv


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  • #7
    TarfHead
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,192 ✭✭✭TarfHead


    From what I have read and heard about ARCHOS products, in general.

    - excellent portable video player
    - excellent portable storage
    - expensive base unit
    - expensive when you bundle in all of the extras that you might have assumed should be included in the cost of the base unit.

    I don't know how it rates as a music player. If you're running out of space on a 30Gb Vision:M, then I guess music is your principal requirement so you should check out how the ARCHOS rates for sound quality.


  • #8
    Gran Hermano
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,329 ✭✭✭Gran Hermano


    TarfHead wrote: »
    From what I have read and heard about ARCHOS products, in general.

    - excellent portable video player
    - excellent portable storage
    - expensive base unit
    - expensive when you bundle in all of the extras that you might have assumed should be included in the cost of the base unit.

    I don't know how it rates as a music player. If you're running out of space on a 30Gb Vision:M, then I guess music is your principal requirement so you should check out how the ARCHOS rates for sound quality.

    I'm pretty sure I've hard the battery life on the Archos range is/was absolutley brutal. (Maybe they've changed with the latest generation).
    Just a heads-up if you plan on using it whilst out and about


  • #9
    ellobee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 366 ✭✭ellobee


    Gran Hermano wrote: »
    I'm pretty sure I've hard the battery life on the Archos range is/was absolutley brutal. (Maybe they've changed with the latest generation).
    Just a heads-up if you plan on using it whilst out and about

    I have mine over a year now and I am still getting close to the quoted battery life by Archos which is 5 hours for video and 17 hours for music, browsing the web though really eats up the battery less than 2 hours
    The specs for the new one say 7 hours video and 22hours music


  • #10
    pleasant Co.
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 7,594 Mod ✭✭✭✭pleasant Co.


    Yep, gran is correct, the new archos5 units have quite poor battery life compared to smaller daps (12hrs audio/4 hrs video) so that is definitely someting to take into consideration


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