Yeah the iPod is way overrated in my opinion. You might consider other players which may or may not better suit your needs as a consumer.

There are some gangsta media players out there, this one in my opinion is way better than the iPod video

Introducing the 199$(circuit city) 3.5-inch screen, supercompact body, 30GB; video, music (including subscriptions), and photo player:
The Archos 404

Yeah, that's right, 3.5-Inch screen. if you wanna go to 4.3 inches widescreen, shell out another 100$ for the bigger brother the Archos 604. It has Wi-Fi

They both come with optional dock that allows voice/video recording directly from camera/mic/television which is pretty sweet, I think the dock is another 100$ though but they keep it seperate to keep the base price low. plenty of other features are available that I won't go into right here to keep this short and sweet but yeah, it's a hot buy if you were looking for a portable video player.

Read more about these guys and others via Google. There are plenty of reviews available.

The screen is soooo big *drools*

Its o k. But can you seriously see yourself carrying that around? I can't. I have 4 ipods, 3 I got free (2 shuffles and 1 video) and 1 I bought, the nano. My mommy gaveme the 3 free ones she got from work. The screen really doesn't bother me. Its lightweight, and I use it during gym class during the running. I can'ts ee myself running with that. AT ALL. It's way too big.

Yeah, but some of us would rather tear off our own arms and beat ourselves to death with 'em than run anywhere, for any reason. So the Archos might be good for somebody like me. My MP3 player is usually in my backpack, so size and weight aren't huge issues for me.

But I don't care about screen size because I don't want to watch videos. I would buy one of these MP3 players because of the huge storage capacity - all for my music.

i like the archos but i personally like the ipod better. $250 for 30gb, nice UI, and its well known. also, i have only bought 1 ipod in my entire life, but have owned at least 4. if you wanna know how, it started when i found an ipod on the street, traded it in for a new 1 because it was all screwed up, then i broke the screen on that one, and got another new 1.

Well I have never owned an IPod, I have thought of purchasing one but never really felt the need for it. I'd probably take the Archos over it any day though from the looks of it. I have a small MP3 player if I want to go running somewhere without it taking up much room. The Nano will break too easily if you were to try and run and it falls out of your pocket. The video recording feature and WiFi intrigue me over to the Archos but I haven't really done all that much research either. That looks pretty cool though and I think I'll check it out some more.

It looks ugly. Apple understands the importance of making their products look classy. I don't mind the small screen for the sleek black (or white) look to it. And the touch-pad scroll wheel just looks nice.

This post has been edited by alex7h3pr0gr4m3r: May 28 2007, 08:40 PM

I think that would be pretty cool for watching video's and watching video's only... for say on a nice long field trip bus ride somewhere, you cn sit there and watch a video on a nice big screen. but i wouldn't use it for an MP3 player, it is just too big in my opinion.

The only reason i would buy an IPod is because they are so small and lightweight. other-wise i would go with the Zunes because they aren't a mac product, and you can exchange files using wireless technology.

The only advantage an Ipod has over a zune is how small it is.

Well looks come down to opinion cause I find that the archos is damn sexy . I guess it is kinda bulky compared to a nano, it all depends on what you use it for really. I mean, no one mp3 player can suit everyone's needs right?

As far as the Zune's Wifi song transfer capability, they've still got their feet deep in DRM land and any song sent via WiFi can be played up to 3 times before it becomes unplayable. When this whole DRM *BLEEP* blows over things will change and music and information in general will be alot more free.

Hi this device really is better compared to the ipod line b4 the iPhone and iTouch. Since it provides the space and screen and looks (except its a more metallic sleek look) for about $100-50 difference compared to the ipod video (based on my last known price (30gb Ipod video $310) )and it has 3.5inch screen and when you really think about it since that is about 95% of the space it uses in your pocket or where ever you are gonna store it while you are listening to it. Here lemme give you scaled for you eyes 4inches is about as long as:-

THIS LINE viewed in 1024x768 res with IE on standard Magnification :

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That is 4 inches so it is a rather small device when you think about and very big screen compared to the video.
Aesthetics wise it is based on personal opinion whether you like a Metalic look all round or a monocolor range (black or white) with a metallic back either way your looking at metalic styles. Also whether you prefer to be pressing or sliding'n'touching (NO sexual connotations for the adolesence readers that are reading this).

but if in the end you just want your dollars worth go with the archon because it is cheaper for more. The only thing I am not sure of is battery longevity - this is a real issue with all MP3 players and the videos seems to have a problem every 50 or so ipod videos where the battery just dies real early and screws up the storage on the ipod