ipod touch or archos

[chessington]

does anyone know which is the best portable media out of ipod touch and this new archos media player?
Thanks in advance

[Postdog]

I don't have either, but I will never get an ipod because of the way it wants to control the music files. To my knowledge you don't get that with archos or other mp3 player. Just my choice.

[ACtheTROLL]

personally I'd go archos.
..... actually thinking about it .... I did!
I have a 500gmini ... it rarely leaves my side ...the 40Gb hdd is fast ... battery life is good .... and the vid support is excellent.

the earphones weren't that good ... I travel quite a lot and so bought noise cancelling ones which are good - even on a 'plane
as an mp3 player it's also good
and it's easy to use

[markysngc]

i too would go archos, don't like ipods as i don't like the software and don't like the overly strict enforcement of drm.

Also the guy that owns archos is a really nice bloke, I went over to paris for a weeks training with them when they made comidore amiga add ons (overdrive hard drives) in the early 90's when the entire company was run from his basement, he wouldn't let me stay in a hotel and insisted in putting me up in his house, him and his wife really made me feel welcome. I know that is not really a technical reason... but hey my opinion. (p.s.. his wife is a great cook)

I've used some of the early archos media players and they are great, sure the principal hasn't changed.

If anyone ever had a amiga overdrive hard drive in the UK I built it... sorry if it went wrong:)

[chessington]

thanks for all your replies, very helpful and wow to actually know them and to have stayed with them the owners.
Maybe I think I will ditch the ipod idea and go for the archos instead, thanks again

[fo3nix]

Personally, iPod Touch.

It depends what you want, really. Want something incredibly versatile, but with poorer design? The Archos may fit your needs.

But if you're prepared to play it the Apple way, iPods are great.

Don't ever buy songs from the iTunes Music Store -- stick to ripping your CDs or getting songs elsewhere. (Like many legal stores online, they mess with the songs so they only play on iPod, or only on Microsoft players, etc.)

As for video and audio listening etc., the iPod Touch is excellent. And the multi-touch just feels so intuitive too. The web browser is an order of magnitude better than any other device's too.

http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/

Note also that Apple is in the process of opening up the platform so that you will be able to buy lots of new apps for the device, all easily over wifi. Many free.