Archos 504

The MP3 player that I have been using for the past 4 years is the Rio Karma [amazon.com]. I have loved this player because:

• All of the controls are near the top of the device. This layout makes it easy to control when it is in a case, hooked to your belt (almost all players now have buttons all over the front).
• It is capable of gapless playback [wikipedia.org], which was unheard of at the time I bought it, and is a feature that, shockingly, is not standard even today.
• It has the beloved jog wheel, which allows you to fast-forward/rewind as fast or slowly as you want (none but iPod have this feature today, and it is implemented in a poor way on the iPod, IMHO).
• Dedicated volume buttons (not standard on most players today).
• 5-way controller allows you to perform any functions without looking at the device (which is handy when you are driving).

Unfortunately, the quality of the hardware is not so great (which is why I am now forced to replace it [fluggart.com]). It always suffered from frequent lockups, and I'm certainly not the only person to complain about problems. Hardware quality was the primary reason I decided not to buy another one to replace the one I have now. Since they aren't being manufactured anymore, eBay is one of the only places you can buy them. A secondary reason that I didn't buy another Karma is because I am becoming increasingly nervous about buying anything on eBay, due to problems with our last few transactions.


The device I have chosen (after painstakingly reviewing all of the competitors) is the Archos 504 [archos.com], which is pictured above. I ordered the 40gig version (it is available with a 160gig HDD!). I have always liked Archos products (probably because they are geared towards geeks like me). Archos is a French company; unlike their competitors who primarily market devices towards the American market, their devices aren't tied to once piece of software (usually iTunes or Windows Media Player). There were plenty of reviews of the device from people who are fellow Linux-dorks.

Anyway, all of the controls are located on one edge (I'll buy a case that will put that edge near the top, so that it'll be like my Karma). It has fast-forward/reverse buttons as well as 30 second skip forward and backward buttons. I figured that this would be the closest I would get to the variable fast-forward/rewind speed that I used to get with the jog wheel on my Karma.

I'm at the point now where my 20gig player was full, so I figured that replacing it with a 40gig device would be a nice increase. That should hold me over for quite a few years (seeing as how I don't really use my MP3 player to play music). And the heavily feature-laden Archos (USB host port, gapless playback, removable battery, etc.) will definitely prevent me from wanting to replace it anytime soon.

I just received it. I will be posting a full review after I have played around with it for a while, although there are already a professional CNET review, as well as an overview video by geekanoids.co.uk [youtube.com]. (By the way, I paid much less for a new one than the price on their website. Buying direct isn't the cheapest option.)