Archos 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500896)

by Archos

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 3 inches ; 2.8 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000HASGF4
• Item model number: 500896
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

With the Archos 500896 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder you have all the entertainment you need at your fingertips, in a package that stays ultra portable. The perfect companion for everything from long trips to short bus rides, from going to parties to just hanging out around the house, the Archos 504 lets you not only take your favorite music, movies, and moments with you, but helps you make new favorite moments wherever you happen to be.

With a screen size surface three times that of similar size PMPs (portable media players), the Archos 504 ensures you can thoroughly enjoy movies and videos. This unit uses a bright, 4.3-inch TFT LCD display with over 16 million colors to provide you a crystal-clear, sharp picture with a 16:9 aspect ratio and 480 x 272 pixels of resolution, as well as an intuitive GUI (graphic user interface) for easy-to-use navigation. The Archos 504 not only plays your videos and movies, but lets you store over a whopping 450 regular movies or 155 DVD-quality movies on its hard drive in either MPEG-4 or WMV formats, at up to DVD resolution. You can also purchase and download optional plug-ins from Archos' website that will allow you to play H.264 and MPEG-2 formats up to DVD resolutions as well.

Not only is the Archos 504 a portable video and movie player, but a high-resolution photo viewer as well, complete with features such as zoom, music, and transition effects. You can easily download photos from your PC, or transfer them directly to the 504 from your digital camera via the optional docking adapter. This unit is compatible with JPEG, BMP, and PNG file formats, and can hold up to 1,600,000 photos at a time, depending upon file size and what else you are storing at the same time. The Archos 504 can even read and display PDF documents for on-the-fly work situations, although it may not implement all PDF features.

For those times when you can't afford the distraction of watching high-quality videos, the Archos 504 can be your music player, storing and playing up to 80,000 songs so you can keep working, walking, or doing whatever you need to with your own private soundtrack. This unit displays the track, artist, album, and album cover of whatever you are playing, and supports stereo MP3 decoding from 30 to 320 kbps CBR and VBR, as well as WMA, protected WMA, and WAV (PCM/ADPCM) formats. Furthermore, the Archos 504 can play AAC music files, and AC3 stereo sound files with the additional of optional software plug-ins that can be purchased and downloaded from Archos' web site. And just in case inspiration strikes or you want to make sure you don't forget something important, this handy media player lets you make voice recordings through its built-in microphone, or via the optional DVR travel adapter or DVR station through a stereo line-in jack in WAV format.

The Archos 504 is fully compatible with DVD-quality VOD (video on demand) and online music stores, allowing you to purchase and download new music and movies directly online rather than having to transfer everything from more traditional media sources. This media player can also record directly from TV in high-quality MPEG-4 with stereo sound via the optional DVR station, so you can take your favorite television shows with you wherever you go. And if you are at home, the Archos 504 can play back any of your movies or recorded TV programs on your television itself, also through the optional DVR station.

The Archos 504 has a built-in 160 gigabyte hard disk so you have plenty of space for anything you need, and includes a high-speed USB 2.0 connection for transferring files. This unit features a 3.5-millimeter stereo headphone jack mini-jack and TV output, and dedicated connectors for hooking up optional adapters or the DVR station. The 504 also features a music playback time of up to 17 hours, and a video playback time of up to 5.5 hours on its built-in LCD display, all with its internal, removable lithium-ion polymer rechargeable battery that charges via computer through its USB port, or more quickly with the optional docking adapter or DVR station, or a separate optional power charger. The Archos 504 is compatible with both PCs and Macs with a USB port and Linux, Windows ME or higher, or OS X or higher, and requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or higher and Windows Media Player 10 or higher for use with PlayForSure video and subscription services. This media player allows firmware updates to be downloaded via www.archos.com, weighs approximately 11.15 ounces, and measures approximately 5.1 x 3 x 0.9 inches (W x H x D).

What's in the Box
Archos 504 portable media player, headphones, dedicated USB 2.0 cable, DVR station adapter, protective case, quick-start guide, and legal and safety notices.

Product Description

Store up to 155 DVD quality movies, 1,600,000 photos or 95,000 songs with the 160GB hard drive. Enjoy the high quality video on a 4.3" color screen. Easily to navigate menus. Turn your ARCHOS 504 into a DVR: Record TV from a TV, VCR, DVD Player and cable box or satellite reciever on your ARCHOS with the optional DVR Station

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this is the best hand held mp4 player in the market, March 8, 2007

By 

Peter T. Cheung "hahaha48" (fremont CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Archos 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500896) (Electronics)

1. As a mp3 player it is still the best if you are like me who refuse to buy any music with copy protection. I bought a handheld device every 6 months and move my files all the time. The copy protected files prevent me from doing that so ipod is out of the question for me. The user interface is much better then creative lab.

2. As for pictures as other reviewer say it does not support raw format and if you need this go for creative lab and not the wolverine(very bad company will not repair under warrenty even if they admit it is their fault but they do not know why). otherwise it is great.

3. Reliability wise i have great luck with all Archos product and none have much problem. My 504 have lock up once for about 200 hours of using. I have to remove the battery to restart it.

4. The best part about the 504 is the mp4 support. I use CloneMobile to rip dvds for the 504. I actually do it mostly for music. So instead of just mp3 I have music videos. CloneMobile offer ripping by chapter which is a function I have not seen this in most other software. The best part about the 504 is that it allow me to play all the videos in one folder in normal order, shuffle or repeat mode. while you are playing your mp4 you can see a side menu which let you see and change parameters. The most useful one for me is the display format (auto,full screen, maximize, original) and the player is very smart when displaying the video. The fast foreword is good but only up to 8X. i wish it is 32x. there is no go to next video command like the mp3.

5. i highly recommend the dvr docking kit for use at home and the $26 small travelling adapter for traveling. The most important features lacking without one of the 3 adapter is a fast charger and the ability to use regular usb cables.

6. The little speaker is a convenient feature but useless as the sound is horrible. I hook the 504 to a device with a mp3 player audio input with a subwoofer. but the best sound is by using my headphone. I use the shure 500 when travelling and Sennheiser HD650 at home. It drives the Sennheiser HD650 without an amp with very good sound. I had a portable headphone amp but i find it too cumbersome to use it. It is possible that a headphone like the 701k that require less power to drive may be better for the 504 but i am currently very happy using the hd650. Also with the dvr adapter i can hook the 504 to my hi fi system but i just do not like to run long cables.

7. I upgraded the firmware immediately since someone said the sound quality has been improved with the newer firmware. The instruction given did not work. I have to click the firmware file manually after i copied it onto the 504 for it to run and then it upgraded fine.

8. Someone complain about the size of the 504 and i found it to be very acceptable. It is a lot bigger and heavier then my 400 but there is very little you can do if you want a large screen for the size. May be in the next few years they can cut down the thickness and weight but knowing what i know about hard drives that may take many years.

9. I still do not like the buttons and you cannot use them in the dark. I think some additional gui like the 400 that you push and small menu display on the side to let u pick choices will be a great addition for operating in the dark. This is not an issue if you are watching a long movie at night but an issue if you watch music videos. you have to turn the lcd to the brightest and keep some lights on to use the device. This is a bigger issue when travelling due to the drain on the battery. Talking about the battery it is very easy to remove, so an extra battery may be an answer.

10. I have not use the 504 to record anything because I have no need for that. I have other systems set up to do those task. Personally I have to say using a hand held device should be for travelling and I leave the heavy lifting of recording to my home video and hi fi system.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great player - BUT BE WARNED, April 22, 2007

By 

Jim B. "Padawan of Rhythm" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archos 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500896) (Electronics)

I am ecstatic about the sound of this player. I've compared it to ipod, Sansa, and Creative. The Creative comes close, but the Archos leaves the others standing still. This is my 1st portable video device so I don't have a comparison. But a couple of people I know with video ipods love the picture quality. The 504 is also easy to use. Now, here's the warning which may or may not apply to your situation. It does NOT work with all Plays For Sure services. I have thousands of tracks on subscription from Napster & Rhapsody that I download for my old player. They are all useless on the 504. The files will transfer and play for a day or two, but then they stop playing because the Archos says the files are copy protected. Of course they are, but I downloaded new files to make SURE the liscenses were current and they still wouldn't play. (Once you start getting this error message, any new tracks transferred won't even play once.) The only workaround I've found is to format the hard drive and reload, which works, but after a couple more days the files go dormant again. This is a BIG time waster, but even more inportantly, you can only transfer the files 3 times every 30 days. So at best you could listen to the files for 1 week a month. I sent my 1st player back because I though it was defective. The 2nd player acts the same. Archos tech support, (nice & helpful), told me to use the URGE service from MTV/VH1/CMT. It's working so far, but obviously this has and will cost me a LOT of time. The unit also will freeze ocassionally, but it's easy to unfreeze. This doesn't bother me because this is the only player I've been able to find with more than 80 gb, so I'm more than willing to cut some slack. I've got roughly a thousand cds, plus my subscription tracks. I need the space. Given the storage space, the ease of use, and the melt-in-your-chair sound quality, I didn't feel the Plays For Sure issue and the occassional hang-up were worth deducting a whole star. My ONLY other issue is when you set up a playlist, you can add by song, album, artist, genre, rating, etc. But when you view the playlist or want to delete anything from it, this can only be viewed/done track-by-track. I've put this suggestion in to tech support. Hopefully it will be a simple firmware upgrade. Also, if you're going to use this for video, (which I won't do very much), the accessories you need to perform most of it's higher functions are extra $$$. I know this is a LOOOOOOOOONG review, but it's a lot of money. The buyer should be informed.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Antipod, February 10, 2007

By 

MsDandy "MsDandy" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Archos 504 160GB Portable Digital Media Player and Recorder (500896) (Electronics)

This is the third Archos product that I have purchased. I had the Gmini404 which I was very pleased with but I ran out of space on the hard drive. So, I couldn't wait to get the 160gb Archos 504. It is absolutely fabulous. I have spent the last three days ripping my entire collection to the Archos--about 3,000 tracks and I still have room to spare for photos, movies, notes, etc. The controls take a little getting used to, you definitely have to look at the unit to navigate around. A touchscreen would be a nice addition. That's the only criticism that I have and it's really a very small complaint.

I have Shure E3 sound isolating headphones & coupled with the 504, you are transported to another place. I can't praise the player enough. If you love music, do yourself a favor and spring for the Archos 504 with really good headphones like Shure. You won't regret it.

I adore my 504; why would anyone bother with an IPod?????