Customer Reviews

ARCHOS Ondio MP3 / FM Radio Player & Recorder

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Pluses:
- expandable flash via MMC/SD cards
- builtin 128 mb
- voice record
- radio
- MP3 record line-in or radio
- 30 sec retro -buffer on radio record
- ATA drive in Windows (drag&drop files)

Minues:
- no backlight
- no power source other than batteries
- no rechargable battery support
- screen is narrow, which requires lots of scrolling(i.e. waiting) to see info
- can't access card and builtin memory at same time
- no quick access (1 button) to scan through pre-set radio stations
- quirky flash process that requires you to leave the updated firmware on device. The process hosed my device and I have to send it back. They don't provide a PC means of flashing the player, the player flashes itself, so if something is wrong with the player OS, you're [out of luck].

My email asking whehter >128MB cards would work in the player went unanswered but I still bought the player. I wanted something small and shock proof and expandable. This fit the bill.

Add in backlight and the ability to draw power from the usb hub, I would give it five stars. Manual is of marginal quality. Accessories are good. Comes with a case that doesn't quite fit and headphones that are dull but this is fairly standard.

I later found out that the external flash support is a little flakey. Songs played from my one lexar 128mb mmc are incredibily choppy or nothing is heard at all. Flash fit is very tight and difficult to manage at best. This aspect of the device is flawed.

However, the rest of the device works quite well. Really do miss not having a backlight available.

Pros:

- I bought the Ondio mostly as a voice recorder, and I am very pleased with it in that capacity. It records directly to MP3 files and the recordings sound great (slight hiss). I record mostly in my car and the background noise is not a factor.

- The MP3 player works great as well. Good sound, loud enough, good capacity.

- The entire unit functions as a USB drive, so you just plug it in and move files on and off through the file system. Super easy and straight forward.

Cons:

- Other reviewers are right about the radio reception. Walking around the house causes even the most powerful signals in my area to cut out. The headphone cord is the antenna so maybe that can be fixed with a better cord(?). Probably not so good for runners. However, if you can get a steady signal, you can record to MP3 very easily, which is kinda cool.

- The "Line In" port does not allow you to use normal PC microphones, which is sad. Apparently, "powered mics" work, but I haven't tried it. The internal mic is very good however.

- The case does not fit quite right (partially covers button) and doesn't provide more than cushioning. No belt clip.

Before buying the Ondio, I had my eyes on the RipFlash Plus 128MB. I ordered one from Amazon, but had to cancel it because it was back-ordered and I hate to wait for more than a month. I am really happy for that decision. In less than a week, I bought this Ondio and now I couldn't be happier.

I have read reviews by others, and many of the complaints are non-an-issue thanks to the firmware upgrade. There have been a major upgrade in firmware 1.32b, and most bugs are eliminated. I expect other bugs be corrected and new features (such as WMA support) be added soon. The firmware upgrade is easy as a flip.

Features I like:

(1) Line-in recording. This really makes music conversion easy.
(2) Unlike other brands, recording is coded in MP3 directly.
(3) Easy USB connection. No software is needed, as the device is recognized as a removable drive. So you can drag and drop files between your computer and the Ondio.
(4) Sound quality is excellent.

Features I am happy to have although wish it better:

(1) FM (this is an bonus compared to the RipFlash Plus) has reception for only a few station (only those with VERY strong signal). But the quality is good. The reason may be that it filters out weak signals. Really not a big deal.
(2) Built-in mic recording is just OK. I heard others saying a preamplified microphone is needed to make decent recording.
(3) The carrying pouch does not fit the player very well. I probably won't use it at all.

The sound is very loud and the level is ajusted via the earphone instead of the player. This may be the reason that the battery life is only 12 hours from three AAA batteries, compared with 20 hours from 2 AAA. Too much a difference in my oppinion.

Overall, I am happy with the purchase. I also paid less for it.

PROS: -ExTREMELY easy to use with windows XP. Plug it into the USB and a removable hard drive pops up in my computer where you can copy and paste files.
-Really Small
-Cool Microphone that works well
-Audio-in records from any headphone jack, and records from its radio

Cons: -Eats batteries fairly rapidly
-Case not designed too well (so cry about it)
-Navigating through songs and FF/REW take a while
-I've had audio-in recordings turn out warbled (long ones)

I bought it in August 03 and its a pretty cool player. It came with the stereo cable for recording, but I went to radio shack and got a cable with a headphone jack on each end so I can record from just about anything. I do use the included stereo cable for playing through my tv's speakers.

The sound quality is great.

Maybe I haven't had any horrible problems yet like the other reviewers, but I think it is a good product with the features of recording, microphone, USB memory, and radio.

Enjoy!

It's small, light, has good internal memory, and handles MP3s well. Sound quality is good, but is much improved by replacing with the headphones--pretty much any cheap set is a step up from the ones included. FM radio reception is terrible, although it can be marginally improved by tuning into one stop below the actual station. Included pouch is handy, but poor fit blocks some controls. Overall, apart from the poor radio reception which has been a nuisance, I've been happy with this player. But if you can wait for the second edition, do.

This product has a lot of bugs to be worked out. If you do a bit more research you will quickly find out that many people are dissatisfied with it. Mine was defective out of the box and I sent it back. The customer support is also terrible.
Do not buy this product unless you have a lot of money and enjoy collecting MP3 players.

Pros: Nice looking player. MP3s transferred from computer sound good. Headphones have volume control on cord. The voice recording worked good.

Cons: The 30 second "retro-recording" doesn't work good. After I downloaded and installed OS 1.31f (which a flyer in the package directed me to do) the retro stopped working. Unable to restore to original OS. Now when I double-click to start the "instant" recording it displays a message, "Checking Available Disk Space" (I have over 120mb available). Then if I double click again I get maybe 3 seconds retro-recording, not 30 like the box and manual says. If I wait for the message to go away the player goes to radio and is not recording, so the instant recording in the radion mode (as manual says) is non-existant.

Also, the case fit is very poor. It covers some buttons. There is a belt clip but it's secured at the bottoom with velcro, which won't hold up long. After the velcro gives out you'll have a good chance of loosing your player. The earbuds are a little uncomfortable in the ear. The FM Radio reception is not good. Slight movements cause some distortion even when close to the radion station. A regular set of headphones (over the head) seemed to help reception a little. You have to tune it to the station then back up .1 to get a clear reception. The manual is barely helpful. The software that came with it is not good. Never was able to transfer files from it to the player. Although it was easy to simply create a folder in MS Explorer and copy the MP3s to the player. Still, the software should have been more user friendly.

I would not recommend this player because of the sheer fact that it doesn't do what's promised. It's going back tomorrow.

SD (Secure Digital Card) is not now and has never been supported by the Ondio. Only the now rare MM (MultiMediaCard) are supported for expansion.

-The FM radio works very poorly.

-Email sent to Archos support goes into a black hole. Use the phone.

-The carrying case is ill-fitting.

-It eats batteries (I think all mp3 players do.)

+It does have a nice form factor.

+Good control layout.

+Lots of features.

I bought this as a recording device, both for radio and by way of the accessory microphone. The MP3 encoding is inadequate, particularly at low volume levels. Lots of digital artifacts in the sound.

Radio reception is poor, even for strong local stations. You won't want to record the radio if there's constant noise when you move around and change reception.

Still, it is just about the smallest and lightest recorder I think you can find right now, which means it is more likely to get carried around than devices that weigh more.

The microphone accessory (with a preamp) is pretty good, works when plugged into the line input of a laptop for very good quality recording. (Note: microphone accessory is a separate purchase).

Another reviewer found that the controls were difficult to use because of the poor fitting case; I second that.

I have to say that I received this as a birthday gift from my husband, and I really like it. We had firmware issues at first but after he did an update it has been great. I don't think that it eats batteries anymore than any other MP3 player does. There are several quirks that used to annoy me, but I've learned to live with them. It's size is nice for working out with, but I do however wish that the ear plug cord was longer for the left ear. Other than that I have no big beef with it. I'd recommend it to a friend.