Customer Reviews

Archos Gmini402 20 GB Pocket Multimedia Center

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I originally purchased the Gmini 400 because I like to travel with my digital camera and unload photos so I don't have to carry a lot of CF cards. The 400 did this just fine. Then a few days after purchasing the 400, I saw the 402. It looked like a nice upgrade and it has a universal download feature so any digital camera could (theoretically) dump photos on the drive. Well, my two Canon cameras both generated error messages and Archos Tech Support has yet to explain what's happening. The bright side of this picture (get it?) is that it actually works with an optional USB 2.0 CF reader which I can take with me. Problem Solved but not very elegantly.

The real bonus is that I took my Gmini to a concert last night and I stealth recorded The Steve Miller Band and the recording is fantastic. This little guy records .Wav files and the quality was amazing. I use external pinpoint lapel mikes from Giant Squid and a battery box. I could have easily gone 3-4 hours or more on a single charge.

I also loaded 20 hours of TV shows which I can watch on the plane if I don't get tired of staring at a 2.2" screen. A ton of child photos and... wait a second.. I don't have any room left on the hard drive to use it for traveling. Oh well, I will unload the concert files anyway. You can delete things on the fly so I may keep the TV shows and dump them if I need the space.

One other thing; the 400 came with foreign power adaptors, the 402 does not, but it does come with a wonderful belt case and the 400 did not.

If Archos can deliver on the original promise and allow my to jack my Rebel XT directly, this tiny multi-media center would seem perfect in every respect. I would have rated it 5 stars had this feature worked.

Sound Quality. I consider myself an audiophile and have returned other players which sounded bad to my ears. The sound quality of the Archos 402 is superb, exceeding my expectations. Remember, I didn't buy this to play music but it's really a versatile device.

I highly recommend this device over an ipod and most of the Creative players. It is tiny, feather weight and easy to carry. I bought it here at Amazon, they let me return the 400 with no restocking charge and get the 402. For just under $300 I thought it was a great buy.

I just got a Gmini 402 a few days ago, and I've gotta say, I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm a college student and I've seen all of my friends walk around with the trendy ipods, but I decided I wanted something a bit more interesting, so I decided to put my money in a Gmini. From the moment I pulled it out of the packaging, I was immediately enthralled with it. The player is made of a sleek silver aluminum that feels very durable. The buttons can be a little hard to push down, but you adjust quickly enough. It turns from a small annoyance to just commonplace without much thought. The unit itself is about the size of an ipod, unlike the other, less discrete PMPs out there. The input jacks are easy to figure out and the host usb port seems to be a great idea. I've got a digital camera that I could probably use it for, but I just haven't gotten around to that just yet. The battery is decent: about 10-12 hours for music that I've noticed (although the manual estimates about 10); I've gotten about 4 hours of video out of it in one charge.

Music:
Transferring music from the computer to the player couldn't be easier. It's recognized as an external hard drive by the computer, so all you need to do is copy/paste your songs from your computer to the Music directory of the Gmini hard drive. Navigating through the songs isn't as easy as the iPod's click wheel, but you get used to it quickly. The backlight turns off when you're listening to the music, so you don't have to worry about the battery running around before you expect it. The included headphones are nothing to write home about, but when is that ever the case? =) I replaced it with a better pair of headphones and the music sounded excellent. If this unit was just bought for the mp3 player function, I'd be perfectly content as is...but there's more of course!

Video:
This is obviously what catch most peoples' eyes about this little device. The installation software for the video conversion software is already in the device as a file in the hard drive, so you don't have to worry about having another installation CD to keep track of. If you accidentally delete these, or something unfortunate happens like you need to reformat the HD or something, you can get the software easily from Archos's homepage. The software itself is incredibly easy to use. Just choose the movie you want to convert, pick the folder you want to save it to, and choose Gmini 400 as the "Target" (device you want to watch it on). It automatically chooses the optimal format and compression that fits best for the gmini 402. The conversion is slow, but almost all conversion software likes to take its time. Once you're ready to watch it, just load it on the unit and you'll find that it's a clean, crisp, smooth image on the lcd screen. It's small, but I've found it perfect for personal enjoyment of a movie when I'm on the train or something.

Games:
The Mophun games that come with the unit are somewhat drab, and I'd have to say that this part didn't live up to expectations, but I also didn't want to spend 6 dollars per game to see if there were anymore that might appeal to me more. All in all, nothing big to complain about. Others may like the games more as they're a pretty decent way to waste a little time here and there, if you're not too picky about complexity of games and whatnot.

Recording:
I use the Gmini to record lectures all the time. It's not so great in huge lecture halls, but still managable. I'm happy enough with it, however, and it's convenient as well. Helps when I miss something during lecture and I don't need to carry around another device for voice recording.

Conclusion:
This is a great little unit, I'd have to say. The upsides overwhelmingly surpass any downsides it may have. Apple is coming out with video iPods now, but I'd still say this has the new generation ipod beat. It has a handy little voice recorder, has games (while not my personal favorite feature, could still entertain). It also has a cool FM radio/remote control accessory that I'm planning on purchasing too. So if you want something to stand out in the big ocean of apple iPods and can do more for pretty much the same price, I'd say get this. You'll never be happier with a purchase than when you first watch a movie or a tv episode on this thing. It just makes you happy! =)

I purchased a 20gig Photo iPod which I returned after a week. I then picked up the Archos Gmini 402 which I've had about 2 weeks, and I love it.

Here's why:

1. If I connect it to one of my friends machines it won't wipe out all my songs/videos and automatically load my friends songs onto it much like an iPod does.
2. I can move songs off my Gmini and onto my computer if I want. You can't with an iPod.
3. iPod wouldn't let you play songs that you put onto it in hard drive mode, Gmini doesn't have that problem.
4. The Gmini has a in-device browser system that lets you reorganize and retype file names if need be. (can't remember if iPod had that ability)
5. Can record audio without any additional gear. Or you can attach a better quality microphone through USB cable.
6. Plays AVI, WMV9 video files. Hell it even plays the NTSC ~AND~PAL format... I don't know any home DVD or VCR players that do that.
7. No proprietary synch! I can hook it up to any computer with a simple mini-usb plug.

The few drawbacks:

1. The interface isn't as `intuitive' as the iPod BUT it's still user friendly and easy to use. You gotta admit that the iPod interface is near brilliant.
2. Not as many accessories on the market as for the iPod. (I only found two or three options for a good leather case). Maybe if it gets more popular this will improve.
3. Audio doesn't stop when the earplug is accidentally yanked out.
4. No Quicktime movie driver. ; ;

Simply put, since Archos doesn't `assume' you're gonna go out and pirate stuff and provides a machine that has freedom to do what you want with it. A company with this kind of insight, as opposed to Apple, is why I think this will be light-years ahead of the Video iPod. Apple has great design, great marketing, and a dedicated fan base but... their products just don't meet up to the money you pay for it.

Viva la Archos~!

And to answer a language question: Yes it does display Japanese text. I have a few Japanese podcasts and it displays the ID3 tags just fine. You have to load it onto the operating system yourself though, it's not automatically installed. It's simple to do and already stored in the Data folder on the device, you just move it to the /system folder. It will only give you the option of displaying one of 2 forms of Chinese or Japanese (unless they provide more languages on the website) and you can only view one foreign language side by side with English.

I really dig this unit. It's about the size of any 20 GB iPod, and probably about the same weight. It does NOT feel chintzy, even though it's so small. I'm listening to it right now.

The interface may not match the iPod in terms of ease of use, but once you get the hang of it, it's fine. It just takes a little bit to figure out which button does what.

The only complaint I have about the GMini 402 is the fact that the left directional control feels a little loose... I doubt this is part of the design, but mine feels a little wiggley and it bugged me at first. Doesn't matter now, it has never affected usability. With that out of the way...

The sound quality is great, and you have pretty good control over equalization - I had no troubles here. The headphones provided are the typical ear-bud type, which I don't generally prefer but these have grown on me.
The digital volume control takes a second to kick in, as the screen turns off after 30 seconds (to save battery), and the screen has to fire back up to register a volume change (you do this by pressing UP on the directional pad), but if you keep it at about 80%, you can adjust the volume with a little control right on the headphone cord, which is a really useful feature.
You don't have to pull the thing out of your pocket to silence/quieten it.

Obviously it holds 20 gigs of music, so that's good. Personally that's about half of my collection, but for most people 20 gigs should be more than enough.

It plays video: this is a great feature, however it's not something I use every day. The device comes with a program that helps you convert video (it converts at about 1:1 speed) to the format used by the device (MPEG4). It's REALLY NICE to have the adapter that comes with it, you can plug it into the device, then into the back of the TV (rca jacks-white, yellow, and red plugs), then change one setting on the unit and you can watch anything from the thing onto the TV, full sound and video quality. That feature is amazing.

The games are pretty basic, though I was surprised to see a couple of 3D games. They are all demos with 2 levels, though, and I don't imagine myself paying $6 for a little game like that, but they're better than cell phone games...

The battery typically lasts somewhere around 7 or 8 hours, which is a little short compared to an iPod, but if you were using the unit, you wouldn't care! It takes about 3 hours for a full charge from nothing.

Transferring music to it is easy too, as the device can be set up as a hard drive (drag and drop) or as a windows device, where you can use Windows Media Player to "synchronize" whatever you want to the device.

For the same price as a 20 gig iPod, this unit offers many more features, and doesn't look half bad either, if you're going for style. When you pull this thing out, people notice. If you're in the market for an MP3 player and want to stand out above the crowd of white ear buds, definitely give this MP3 player a shot. You won't regret it, I don't.

The archos gmini 402 is by far the most versatile and powerful media player on the market to this date. Not only does it offer the ability to play your standard music files but it plays video, and displays pictures as well. Some of its best features are:

- Nice clean screen with fast refresh, which is good for watching movies.
- The device has it's own OS and filesystem which is extremely easy to navigate.
- Comes with it's own USB 2.0 built in to the device, which makes plugging other devices directly into it and transfering files very easy. I tested this with a 500 mb file transfering from 1 archos gmini 402 to another, it took about 8 minutes to transfer a file just on batteries.
- The battery lasts a long time.
- Has it's own equalizer.
- The device's design resembles that of a small game system, and is very intuitive to use and navigate with.
- The built in microphone is very clear and is one of the best selling points of the device, especially if you are a musician or need it for meetings.
- THe ability to output video and audio to an external device such as a reciever is one thing the gmini 402 offers that other devices don't.

The only problems I've found with the device is that you need to manually shut down the device when you're not using it, it seems to go into a standby mode which uses up battery life if you don't. Another thing which the device might have but I haven't spent the time to look for is some sort of way to lock the keys so you don't accidentally press buttons while it is in your pocket.

For the price, and it's features, the Archos Gmini 402 is by far the best media player on the market, none of the ipods can compare, in fact I sold my ipod to help get this one.

The Archos Gmini 402 is possibly the best video Mp3 player on the market today. I just got this player on Christmas and it is awesome. In one day I put 20 albums, 14 Family Guy episodes, The Family Guy Movie, and 2 Simpsons episodes on it. I still have 14GB left. The games are pretty cool, but you only get short demos, but I didn't buy a video mp3 player for games. They do come in handy when you are bored.

Just quickly, here are two cons that I can think of, the scrolling is kinda slow, and volume isn't too loud if you are a person that likes to blast music.

In the box you get the mp3 player, headphones with their own volume control, a converter to be able to use 2 sets of headphones at once, a charger, a cord to outplay music or video on the TV or Stereo, 2 USB cords, and a protective pouch. It also has a owner's guide and some fold out instructions.

I am also pretty sure that it works with Napster, it has the Plays for Sure sticker. The software itself is about 1.35 GB. I know this because I accidentally formatted my Gmini 402. It got rid of everything. But I was able to put my music and video on it in about 15 minutes, and retrieve all of the demos off of the Archos website. The only thing that I lost for good is the read-me files that are in 6 different languages, If you just don't understand technology then you might need it but it just freed up more video and music space for me! Anyways you can just go to the website and look at the read-me there.

I have read a few other reviews on the Gmini 402, and I guess a few people just do not know how to use mp3 players. TRUST ME, the Archos Gmini 402 WORKS with Windows Media Player 10 and Windows XP. It says it on the BOX! It is so easy to use too. Just drag the music or video that you want into the Sync list and make it go. Some video files are not compatible with the Archos Gmini 402, but Windows Media Player automatically converts it for you. It takes about 5-7 minutes to convert a Family Guy episode. That is pretty fast compared to other programs.

The battery life for the Gmini 402 is 4 hours video, 10 hours music. It takes about 4 hours to go from a dead battery to a full charge. Ya so the new video Ipods can do like 18 hours of music but please, 2 HOURS of VIDEO!!! You can't watch half of the movies you put on it, unless there is an outlet nearby. And, the video Ipod does not come with cool 3D demo games. Oh yah, if you have read any of the newspapers lately, some have had articles that critisize the video Ipod and PSP because it is hard to put video files on them. It's true, it is very difficult, my friend just got a video Ipod for Christmas and he has to convert all of his video files into MPEG4. He had to get special software too because Apple only allows Itunes. Jeez what a rip. He can only enjoy 2 hours of video, no cool games, and he has to endure hours of converting. The Archos Gmini402 can play MPEG4, WAV, and AVI formats in video. I think that there are more that I have forgotten but I hope that you get the point.

The Archos Gmini 402 is the best video mp3 player that you can find for the low price. It is cheaper than most video players. Did you know that the Ipod Nano is 200-275 dollars depending on the size of the hard drive. Don't go wrong and buy some other mp3 player, trust me, you will regret it.

I bought this player about a month ago and I have to say it has had quite an effect on how I view entertainment. For one thing, the mobile video has a lot more uses than you might think as you find times when you are waiting and have it on your person, you can easily watch a movie and not notice the time pass like you normally might.

The screen is definitely viewable even though it is pretty small. People say that this player plays divx but they are being a bit misleading. This player plays, without re-encoding a very specific formatted version of avi, which is xvid encoded mpeg4 with mp3 audio. It does not produce AC3 surround sound output, even downmixed. If you download a lot of movies, you may find this important to know. However, a lot of material is pre-existing in this format.

By far the best feature of this player is the ability to use it for TV-Out and the ability to make playlists on the fly. The TV-Out makes it possible to show all your friends the cool movies you have without changing formats or burning disks, etc.

Another great thing about it is the USB host port, which most people don't realize not only can host a USB hard drive, but I recently discovered is a powered port (maybe this is part of the USB2.0 spec I don't know) and the power allows you to power up a set of USB speakers.

I discovered this on my own as I plugged in a set a speakers I didn't need that I got with a computer I bought recently and the speakers powered right off of the player itself. Which makes this player a great unit in a portable boombox type configuration. With the ability to make playlists on the fly, you can completely DJ a party using this unit and a set of decent USB speakers. If you are over someone's house you could technically carry all of this around with you in your car, and in a boring moment you'd have at least a little bit of entertainment. Personally, I use this for playing music to go to sleep to at night since it fits quite nicely on my nightstand.

However, this unit does everything it's supposed to do and even a bit more with some experimenting. The USB 2.0 Host was a fantastic idea and I'm glad that they implemented it. Technically, you could probably use just about any low-power USB device as an attachment to this unit. So all of those USB flashlights, etc. would probably work using this unit as a battery, while you are listening to music. Amazing sub-feature...

There are a couple drawbacks. I found that the player was not very good for use in the car because you simply can't operate the interface effectively and quickly with one hand, so I use my other MP3 player in the car. It is though, perfect in just about any other situation. Highly recommended and worth the dollar amount.

I've been using this fine little music player for several weeks now on my iMac G5. While I'm sure the vast majority of people who purchase this product (and the below reviewers) will be using Windows machines, I figured I'd give a heads up to those who might like to know how it runs as a replacement to the iPod on a machine with OSX.

Using it with iTunes:

I initially had pretty serious conversion issues with my Gmini and iTunes. By default, iTunes converts music files into AAC format, which the Gmini doesn't support. I had to convert my 500 or so songs into mp3 format, which took about a half hour or so and set my CD burning preferences to mp3. Since then, I haven't had any problems, but iTunes-purchased music cannot be converted. Luckily, I haven't been privy to purchasing much music on iTunes. Almost all of my music has been from my own CDs or through downloads at allofmp3.com (which is compatible with the Gmini). If most of your music came from purchases on iTunes, this device probably isn't for you.

Archos has an iTunes plug-in that allows iTunes to read the Gmini, but it's not as advantageous as you might think. An icon for the player appears in the "Source" bar on the left of iTunes and you can click and drag songs into it. But it won't tell you if you've already installed the song on the Gmini (so you could get the song twice) and it doesn't put the songs into the Music folder on the Gmini. Of course, iPods automatically update in iTunes, which has its plusses and minuses.

An easier way to transfer songs to your Gmini is to just go into your iTunes folder via Finder and drag the artist folders onto the Gmini's Music folder. This not only makes your Gmini's folder nicely organized, but it also looks identical to your iTunes folder, making it easy to compare what music you have on the two sources.

ID3 tags on iTunes (song titles, genres, album titles, etc.) appear just fine on the Gmini. I haven't quite figured out how to get album art to show up on it, though. I don't imagine it will be too difficult.

Free podcasts (almost all are free) are fully compatible with the Gmini, provided they're in mp3 format (most already are). I didn't want them getting mixed up with my music, so I created a new folder on the Gmini titled "Podcasts" and dragged the files there.

General stuff:

--Uploading photos onto the Gmini really separates it from the iPod. Photos show up beautifully on the Gmini's screen, and you can still zoom in on them. One complaint is that I can't view them while listening to music, though. My camera was also incompatible with the Gmini at first, but after updating the Gmini on Archos' Web site for free (took about three minutes), it works fine.

--As other reviewers mentioned, the Gmini's microphone is suprisingly good. I have a digital recorder, but the thing stinks compared to the Gmini, both in terms of recording quality and length of recording (the Gmini's hard drive is much larger than most digital recorders).

--I haven't gotten into videos on the Gmini, but the demo video it came with looks great on the screen.

--The iPod has more status than all other mp3 players on the market, but when most of my friends see my Gmini, they say, "Oh, wow" and want to pick it up. It really is a cool little device. I have also come across many a scratched iPod--the devices seem prone to it--but I have had no such problems on my Gmini.

--Having a charger for the Gmini is much better than it only charging when plugged into a computer, but dual compatibility would be nice. Instead, it needs to be charging via the adapter when plugged into the computer. It's a minor nuisance, but I suppose it's worth it when you're on the road and you don't have a computer with you.

Overall:

The good: The interface--not the buttons--is very user-friendly, playback and recording is truly outstanding, the screen is beautiful, uploading photos from a camera is very convenient, the device plays pictures, video and music on a television

The bad: Some compatibility issues with iTunes, battery life should be longer, you can't view photos while listening to music

The bottom line: This is the best mp3 player I have come across (and I have quite a bit of experience with iPods). But it's so much more than an mp3 player.

I recived this last night and it kept me up playing unitl 1 am. This does everything is says it does. I was able to transfer all my mp3's over. I can watch some of the movies I had on my pc.(some need to be converted, but they say that upfront). I got this to backup my photo's on the go. No problems with either of my two digital cameras. I gave it 4 stars becuse I would like to see better play of video. The manual is not the best but this divice is not hard to learn. The only note I will make is that I had to change the usb settings to hard drive to sync right with my pc.

I bought this primarily to store pictures from my digital camera for a trip to Europe. It performed flawlessly, the battery lasted long enough to transfer photos each day for 7 days & it still was only 1 bar down. I was able to create folders for each day of my trip in advance and transfer the photos from my camera into the right folder for each day. As a bonus I loaded some mp3 files and listened to music on my flight. After the trip was over I was able to show my entire family my photos on the tv screen, that was great. When I got home it was quick & easy to transfer all the photos, in the separate daily folders, onto my computer. This was well worth the price.