The Unsung Pocket Jukebox Hero

It's been about a year since Apple has quit selling the iPod classic, which in its 160gb guise was an incredibly useful thing for the pathological music fan that likes a soundtrack to wherever they go. This caused many problems for people, as they were deliberately hunting down old iPod classics and squirreling them away as backups; not forgetting at the time a spike in second hand prices due to massive demand – also there's nothing out there with that level of storage space. Short of getting a 128gb card and using it in your phone (assuming it's Android and can take a Micro SD card of course). I mean, not everybody wants to put all their eggs in one basket and cause more battery drain – and wish to have a separate mp3 player. Well, I do anyway – most of the time.

So, there's people out there gently nursing iPod Classics until they die – and dreading the day it does.

I've got the same problem. However, it's not an iPod Classic – it's an Archos 48IT.

Archos made some of the most criminally underrated devices of its time. When people had monochrome display iPods in 2005– I had something that was able to playback films that I ripped from DVD into DiVX, and mp3's. One of the great ground breaking things about it was the ability to pipe it through a TV, so it was essentially a portable DVR – something that Apple had yet to dream up. The AV500 I had back then contained 30gb of storage space, and the ability to pipe it through a TV. Friends used to brag about owning an iPod, then I'd whip that out and completely blow them out of the water as the device was extremely ahead of its time.

Over the years, I upgraded to the Archos 5 that had a 160gb drive – which by that point allowed the user to not only pipe the device through a TV – you could also synchronise a Freeview tuner or Skybox to record to it, even though at times it wasn't entirely perfect and varied from device to device with the remote sender that came with it. The Archos 5 then developed the ability to download codec packs from their website, where you were able to play back in various audio formats (ogg, flac, mp3, m4a, aac and even one that allowed Dolby Digital sound output from correctly converted video files) and some primitive online TV streaming capabilities over wifi. There was various accessories you could buy, a DVB-T tuner stick that gave the user the ability to watch television, and FM radio capability.

A stand out feature with the Archos players that I love, is the ability to use the device literally as a bloody massive pen drive. If you switched the device into a hard drive based mode without synchronising to Windows Media Player or iTunes, you could literally drag and drop music and audio files on there without the need of intrusive software. More importantly, you weren't locked down to using the device on one PC – unlike the iPod that insisted you use iTunes or die, and still does to this very day.

Yes, that's right. You could go over to your mates house with your TV dock - and have a tonne of films on one device, and a tonne of tunes that pre-dated Spotify and Netflix by years.

Not entirely plain sailing...

You may think to yourself - “Well, if the device is that good then how come it hasn't taken over the iPod”

I will admit there are quirks with the device. Later models did have the odd teething problem that was over exaggerated, and in comparison they were given an unfair reputation. In my case, I will admit that I had to send my Archos 5 back with a screen fault, that was repaired under warranty and received back within a week and a half after being sent back to their HQ in France. 

In their last incarnation with the Archos 48IT – instead of using a basic Linux operating system like the Archos 5, it was lumbered with an elderly form of Android – version 1.6, that was never updated by Archos and no Custom ROM support as seen for smart phones. Which, in comparison to using my Sony Xperia Z3 now overshadows it due to the ability to use Spotify and stream music over the air.

The biggest complaint with the device is that it was a jack of all trades, and a master of one. Notably, the internet browser, email, and GPS functionality was rather crude - but its strength was more geared towards being the device of the audio and video connoisseur; mentioned earlier with with plethora of codecs it could play back which was unrivalled at the time. Basically, treat the device as a video and audio playback device and you couldn't go wrong which is why I'm comparing it to the iPod classic as an alternative device. The most balanced review can be found on C|net's website, while the reviews on Amazon are negatively biased from people wanting the moon on a stick.

The final issue with the Archos is that you have to be reasonably tech savvy to know how to rip films onto the device, as you're on your own to hunt for the software you need.  When I used to use Windows full time, I used something like DVD Shrink to rip the film onto the hard drive and then convert with ImToo Video Converter Platinum. I used to convert the .vob files into 700-750mb .avi DiVX files, or aim for 400-450mb MPEG4 files; DVD ripping took 10 minutes while the rendering into DiVX or MPEG4 too 45 minutes to 1 hour. This was dependant on the quality of picture you wanted, speed of your processor, and memory (in this case, Intel i3 circa 2010 with 3GB - higher and newer spec PC's with more RAM will be a lot quicker). Naturally, such a thing didn't bother me in the slightest - as there was no way I was taking the iPod route, I've had it too good with Archos!

However, due to having a massive 500gb drive inside it (unheard of in any mp3 player) I find it such a convenient device to use – as the thing is chock full of films and music.

Sadly, Archos have given up with these players – and eventually various tablet devices took over. This was also aided by the ability to stream television programs with the likes of BBC Player, Sky Go, and Netflix to name a couple - and the ability to use various apps to be a fully all encompassing multimedia device.

My old digital chum is cracking on a bit in years, and I'm dreading the day I'll have to replace it – the same thing in common with iPod classic owners. As an alternative to the iPod classic, it's certainly worth tracking down on eBay and is a bit of a bargain.

It will be a sad day when this once innovative device goes to the Valhalla's branch of PC World, and I fear those days are coming soon.