Archos Gmini 220 20 GB MP3 Jukebox / Recorder / Photo Wallet-Viewer with Compact Flash Reader Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I won't buy an iPod. Why? Because they won't support WMA. Because the interface means you don't move the music files directly, you have to use the software.I just want to move music over and play it. The idea of encryption is silly. There is free music everywhere. It comes down off satellites. Any idiot can record it. The industry needs another model.
Thanks to USB2, getting music on this device is easy. I used to move music with USB 1.1, and filling anything took hours. This thing takes minutes. You just treat it like File Explorer. If you organize music by album, move albums, or the whole collection. From here, the player will break down artists, songs, and albums. Of course, 20 gigs is a lot of music, so doing this is cumbersome. The interface has 11 lines of display. You see a lot of information. It still seems a little cumbersome, so I tried to get a mininum number of folder in the parent directory. None of this matters as long as you know what you want to do.
This unit is small, high capacity, and efficient. You can move files from a digital camera to this unit. It's easy, but a little slow. If you don't use CF cards, you have to buy an adapter on the 'bay or from Archos. This is great because these dumb memory cards are expensive, and every year they make the old ones obsolete. Buy one with enough capacity, and carry something like this.
This unit has a recorder. I expected nothing from this feature, but it actually works very well. I set it up to record MP3 at 192 kbps, the highest. I then plugged the funky two pronged adapter into the unit, and the miniplug output from my XM into that adapter. The music sounded very good. I can't say if it is as good as a PC based recorder, but there was nothing obviously wrong. So you could lug this along and make recordings of cassettes or LP, or record live broadcasts, etc. It's very painless. This may be the strongest feature, but I haven't played with it enough.
So, play music, record music, manipulate files, transfer pictures on a long trip. This is not as elegant as iPod, but this is utility taken to a high order of perfection. I hope it holds up. I have one of the original Archos Jukes, and it still works.
Apparently they give you the full version of MusicMatch with this unit. I've had the limited version with a computer I bought. The two seem to work well together. The MM goes through and sorts the music and updates a file on the player.
Because of the large screen, it is very easy to make playlists on the Gmini. You bring up an album on one side, and the playlist is on the other. I'm not sure how you do more serious navigation. The thing even has a screen keyboard to title recordings and playlists. It's slow but heck, it really works.

I'm stopping at 4 stars because the unit has hung up. You have to reset it, by holding down the power switch. It's not much worse than my Pocket PC, but I'm not sure what it means.

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Product Description:
The ARCHOS Gmini 220 is the market's smallest 20 GB MP3, WMA and WAV player/recorder. The Gmini 220 is the industry's first MP3 player offering a modular solution that allows you to upgrade its functionalities by downloading plug-ins directly from the ARCHOS web-site. This means you can create your own personalized player with exactly the options you want.
It boasts a large 2.5" gray-scale, blue backlit LCD screen and features a new intuitive icon-based interface for simple menu navigation. And that's not all -- with the optional Photo Wallet software, it can even double as a photo wallet. It boasts an entirely redesigned GUI (Graphic User Interface) with icons and a unique ARCLibrary system to organize and synchronize music files with your computer. You can either browse according to genre, album, artist, and year... or you can browse by folder. And you can delete, rename, copy and move files and even create folders directly in the Gmini without using a computer. The MusicMatch Jukebox Plus Music Management software is included to convert your entire CD collection into MP3 format using the ultra-fast USB 2 interface and the massive 20 GB hard drive. Store up to 300 hours of MP3 music -- that's 500 CDs in the palm of your hand! You can also listen to your MP3 tracks by connecting the Gmini directly to your stereo. Options include: Audio & Voice Recorder, Photo Wallet, MadWaves Interactive Music Composer, and FM Remote Control.