Portable Media Player

Hi,
Trying to get some advice or reviews from the forum; Does anyone here own a Creative Labs Zen 30 gb vision media player or the Archos 605?
I'm thinking of getting the Archos 605 but want to make sure it's worth it, for it's kinda pricey!

 

Which creative Zen are you talking about? the Zen vision W-the wide screen one?? i used to have a W before I decided to sell it to make some money, it really suited my needs.

what features are you looking for? will you be using all of the archos 605's features// it has a wifi, but the browser needs to be bought separately

 

Yes I am talking about that Creative you had. Well, I guess it would be nice to have the Wi-Fi but not a must. And I did read reviews about having to buy browser (what exactly does it mean to buy a web browser?- we can surf the web?) and something about having to buy various plug-ins, each one costing $20? That would suck...I don't want to spend $20 on each plug-in that I might need....So...hm but I think the Creative Labs Zen is so typical...and the picture quality cannot compare to the Archos....having like 16 million colors...and like 800x480?

 

I'd have to agree with the colours. The Archos are renowned for their excellent Colour resolution-16.7 million fot the Archos 605, 256,000 for the Zen Vision W.. It's a pretty big difference lol

Also the resolution-Archos 800x480 vs Creative 480x272 (http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=15752&nav=1)

It is a big difference, and depending on what you really need, If you are going to be using for videos most of the time, the Archos is a clear winner. You should also check what vido formats most of your vids are, unless you fancy your time converting all your vids to a format that the player supports.

Also, I've heard that navigation is not all that good on the Archos, despite the fact that it has a touch screen and tactile buttons

THe Cowon D2 also sounds like a good alternative. It has amazing video and music playback, plus a 16 mill screen: http://www.cowonglobal.com/product/product_D2_spec.php

Try and see if you can play around with the DAP's and see which one you really like, Cause reviews are all biased, and depending on what you think one DAP may be better for you then another one.

 

hm, checked out Cowon...never heard of it. Thanks for the suggestion. http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/a2/comparison.html

Looks like they support a lot of features when Archos or Creative doesn't.
Ah! now I really have to think about it. The Cowon is even more pricey than the Archos...
BigM- have you heard or know whether it is true that the Archos does not have a lot of plug-ins and users do need to buy the plug-ins in addition to the cost?

 

oh another question: The Cowon does not have a removeable battery...does this mean that if something happens to the battery or after a long while the life of the battery decreases, there's basically nothing we can do?

 

if your main purpose for getting this is for viewing videos with portability, definitely get the one with the more high res color screen.

 

You should be able to send it to a Cowon repairs and get it fixed, If its under warranty for free, but if its not, you would have to pay for it

 

I'm not 100% sure, It'd be best if you asked at a DAP forum... maybe the CNet review can help you. It only mentions the Wifi Plugin, plus a "optional plug-ins at $20 a pop for formats such as H.264 and MPEG-2/VOB files."

http://reviews.cnet.com/portable-video-players-pvps/archos-605-wifi-160gb/4505-6499_7-32477557.html

 

sigh, I'm so sad. So I decided to go with the Archos....it doesn't work with Real Media files! any ideas what I can do? I don't even see any plugins that works.

 

I would go for a Archos myself. Creative is alright too but I have found that with file formats, Archos requires less converting

 

Converting would really be the main way to go then... As runtohell said, there is really a lack of support for RMVB files.. They aren't the most popular of video files

 

yup just convert the files like everyone else says cause i think that format is not popular with portable media players...