Give me one good reason to buy an I-pod and i'll do it....until then.... (Archos Gmini XS200 20 GB)

Member Name: damessiahuk

Product:	Archos Gmini XS200 20 GB
Date:	02/11/05 (167 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, stylish, easy to use, excellent value for money, stores documents as well as music.

Disadvantages: Headphones supplied aren't too good

I-Pods are cool. They are, too look at, an I-pod is pretty sexy. I-pods revolutionised how we listen to music. MP3 players have been around for ages, and they haven't been relatively expensive. I-Pods have been expensive, they've always been expensive, and to be honest, they still are. But something about them made them flock of the shelves. Celebrity endorsement? Various cool colours? Whatever it was, it certainly worked, and Apple im sure are laughing all the way to the bank, if not posssibly buying their own bank to store their dosh in.

Its probably I-tunes that did it. When the sharing of music collapsed (to an extent) Apple got in and launched a easy cheap and legal way to share music. Sure you had to pay, but it wasnt too much, better than risk being caught by the fuzz, and furthermore, being caught out by a horrible spy-ware virus. Whats more, it was pretty much accepted that to play I-tunes, you needed an I-pod. So off the shelves they flew.

Anyway, you're all probably wondering why I am talking about I-Pods. Well, i was <-------------> this close to buying one, when i stumbled upon this little beauty. And I haven't regretted it since. The fact is, people just assume that I-pod is the best on the market, but its not. Its just an mp3 player that only plays I-tunes. Maybe its the look, or maybe its just people being conditioned into thinking they need one. Chances are they dont need one at all, and whats more, if they do need an MP3 player, they'd be far better off shopping around.

As it stands, the Archos retails on the Dixons website at £149.99.
For that you get a stylish stainless steel MP3 player, with a large crystal clear LCD screen (with backlight). On the front, it has only one toggle which controls the whole system. It does everything (think sony erricson phones with the control stick in the middle), and is silver to match the rest.

On top of that, you get a fast 2.0 USB connection, which makes transfering onto the system a doddle. No software required, simply drag and drop it as if it was just another file or drive on your computer (which essentially it is).

Its light weight at 120g.

But this is the main selling point, it has 20GB!!! Thats a huge amount of memory. In comparison, the mini I-pod, (which costs an extra tenner!) only has 4GB. Thats five times more memory space, holding upto 5000songs. The 20GB I-pod is currently selling at about £210!!! You do the maths.

In addition, i must also add that this MP3 player plays practically all, if not definately all music formats eg. WMA, I Tunes, Wav etc. On top of that, it also holds various other files such as jpegs and word documents. You cant specifically view them, but what im trying to say is this doubles as an external file storage. Essentially, you can use it as a very large USB pen. You dont need to carry floppy disks as this can hold all your work, and all your tunes as well! It is more than just an MP3 player.

The only real downpoint with this product is the headphones. I thought they were very uncomfortable, and quite frankly at certain volumes painful. They lack any sound cushioning that more expensive headphones provide. Therefore, you may find yourself splashing out 10-20 pounds on a new decent pair of headphones to go with it. But hey, when you've got such a bargain, its small price to pay.

Essentially, I had two motives in this review. First was to review such an excellent product. Secondly, it was to try and point people in the right direction. Im not saying dont buy an I-pod if you really want one, im just saying look before you leap. They are needlessly expensive, and you might find something alot more appealing if you stop and look around. What I have reviewed here is just one of the many quality MP3 players on the market that are looked over because of I-Pods. My girlfriend, who works for Dixons tells me that they are told to do everything in their power to try and turn people away from I-Pods and onto other products. Even the shops dont want you to buy them! But at the end of the day, it's your choice. Im just trying to make sure you realise that you do actually have a choice.

Summary: cheap, big memory, small, the best value on market

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