Archos Gmini XS 200 20 GB MP3 Player and Recorder

by Archos

Product Details

Product Manual [1.52mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 2.3 x 3 inches ; 4.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002U0JP4
• Item model number: XS200
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,063 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

ARCHOS announces the new Gmini XS200 -- an extremely small 20 GB hard-drive based audio player with a competitive low price. The ultra-compact music player is just as small as most 4GB audio players available today (measures only 7,6 x 5,9 x 1,9 cm and weighs 120 grams -- 2.9" x 2.3" x 0.75" and 4.3 ounces), yet offers a huge capacity able to hold up to 300 hours of music -- that's up to 5000 songs! Geared towards the young, urban market, the Gmini XS200 features a large 2" gray-scale LCD screen with a sleek, dark gray metallic cover.

Features

• The Gmini XS200 expands on ARCHOS' successful line of hard-drive based audio players with a new entry level small-size, large-capacity device that allows you to:
• Play MP3, WMA, and WAV music files
• Store up to 300 hours of music -- equivalent to 5000 songs!
• Connect to your stereo to play music (with optional standard audio cable)
• Quickly organize songs with the ARCHOS ARCLibrary and view by artist, genre, title and year (ID3 compatible)
• Rename, move, copy, delete files and folders or make playlists on the move without a computer thanks to the ARCHOS Browser
• Easily navigate menus using the large and intuitive 2" gray scale LCD screen
• Friendly Graphical User Interface with icons ö USB 2.0 high-speed interface to download and store data files from a PC or Mac

Specifications

• Capacity: 20 GB Hard Disk -- Up to 300 hours of music
• Interfaces: USB 2.0 high-speed, compatible USB 1.1, PC & Mac
• Music playback: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbps CBR & VBR, WMA and WAV (PCM)
• Display: 2" level gray scale LCD, 128 x 128 pixels. 9 lines of characters Intuitive menu with icons
• Audio connections: Stereo analog Earphone/ Line Out jack
• Battery Life:
• Up to 10 hours
• Scalability: Download firmware updates from www.archos.com
• Power source: Internal: Rechargeable Li-Ion Batteries. External: AC charger/adaptor
• Dimensions: Approx. 7.6 x 5.9 x 1.9 cm 2.9" x 2.3" x 0.75"
• Weight: 120 grams (4.30 ounces)
• Package includes: Gmini XS200, USB 2.0 cable, AC power charger adaptor, headphones, quickstart sheet (in-depth manual on Gmini XS200 HD)

Product Description

Small 20GB Audio Player 2.9" x 2.3" x 0.75" - 4.3 Ounces / Listen to MP3, WMA, and WAV files anytime, anywhere / 2" level gray scale LCD - 128x128 pixels

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better of the small 20gb hard drive players, January 7, 2005

By 

Angel M. (Chanute, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archos Gmini XS 200 20 GB MP3 Player and Recorder (Electronics)

Although I wish it had an FM Tuner, and especially a case with a belt clip, this is the better of the small 20gb hard drive players in my opinion. Its price point allows it to compete with iPod, the Lyra, and others. It is the least "fancy" of the Archos firmwares, and I hope an upgrade soon will add WMA with DRM support (purchased downloads), as well as an Automatic ArcLibrary that the other Archos models have. The latter will automatically update your ID3 tag library when you disconnect from the computer. As it is now, you have to manually do this in Setup after adding/deleting/changing songs.

One big positive is it just adds to the computer as a Mass Storage Device - i.e. an extra drive letter/space. You can store any kind of data on it making it a nice portable drive for documents, photos, etc. No special software to install! It feels sturdily built and is easy to navigate and create playlists on the fly.

A couple of minor annoyances that is sort of funny now - one is the packaging. We all know and hate those blister packs, but this one is the HARDEST I've ever encountered. Twenty minutes later, a visit to the tool shed, and a big cut later, I finally had it out. It took a tree limb cutting tool to free it! My best scissors have never been outsmarted by a blister pack until this package! Second, they went with the cheap, old "mainframe" green screen I'm sure to save costs. But the blue LED's showing On and Charging are so bright it would seem they could have easily provided backlighting! Seriously, if you look right at the light, it hurts your eyes! :-)

Overall, I'm very happy with this - especially for the price. I replaced my flash player and use it in the gym and running. So far it is holding up very well (no lockups), but I'm still looking for the perfect case.

One note of caution, the Gmini FM Remote does NOT work with this model. Archos confused the issue by naming this "Gmini" but is not the same as the gmini 120 and 220 models. There is no way at this time to add FM tuner capability to this model.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a good mp3 player with only a few irritating problems., November 29, 2004

By 

ceciliav - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archos Gmini XS 200 20 GB MP3 Player and Recorder (Electronics)

I bought this mp3 player a few weeks ago to replace the complete disaster that was my Gateway Jukebox. The Archos Gmini xs 200 is better, and [so far], I haven't had any major problems with it.

One thing I've found to be really irritating is the "shuffle" mode. I always end up hearing the same handful of songs - out of the 2,000+ songs I've got on there already - over and over again, and I keep having to skip over them. Which gets annoying pretty fast.

Gmini beats every other mp3 player that I've tried [rca kazoo, ipod, Gateway Jukebox], because it does what I want it to do: store and play a lot of music, and serve as an external hard drive without having to use programs like MusicMatch, Windows Media Player or iTunes. Set up literally goes like this: plug in, drag files, drop files - Which is great.

Also, of course it's tiny and really cheap compared to similar players.

There is an online user manual that is a lot more complete than the one that came with the product [www.archos.com].

update: i've found a way to work around the bad shuffle mode by playing around with the settings a bit [mode: shuffle current folder, and play the folder "titles"]. BUT I have found a few more problems: sometimes it shuts itself off without warning. And sometimes when you turn it on, "resume" does not actually resume. Also, there is no way to "hold" while it's turned off, so it occasionally gets turned on while in my purse.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best value for the money, December 16, 2004

By 

Dean Schimpf "daytraderdean" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Archos Gmini XS 200 20 GB MP3 Player and Recorder (Electronics)

This player might not have options like FM tuner or recording ability, but if you want big music storage with a small price all bundled in a cool package, this is the player for you. I love it and some of my friends are now buying it too. The little FM remote thing that is for the Gmini series DOES NOT work on this unit, so if that's something important to you, this isn't the MP3 player for you.
Some of the biggest pros are the battery life which I've been getting 12 hours per charge and the size which is tiny. My wife's 1.5 GB memory card MP3 player is bigger than this unit and cost almost as much. I use the player to store a couple thousand songs and as a backup for my important computer files and digital pics. That way if my computer ever gets fried, I've got an easy backup.
Regarding some of the other reviewers comments, there is a complete manual and it's not the "one sheet of paper" quick start guide described earlier. The manual is a PDF file in the player. Just plug into the computer and read/print it. There was also a complaint about shuffle mode that they seem to get the same songs over and over. I haven't had that experience and always listen in shuffle mode.