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Photograph: Rick Rizner
Archos Gmini 220
| Features | Outstanding |
| Ease of Use | Good |
| Capacity | 20GB hard drive |
| Memory card slot | CompactFlash slot |
| Formats supported | MP3 VBR, WMA, .wav |
| Voice recording | Yes |
| Battery | Fixed rechargeable lithium ion |
| Software | Musicmatch Plus software |
| Other features | Optional FM tuner/recorder, voice recording, line in to create music files without a PC, view/save JPEG photos |
| Policies | One-year warranty; 16-hour toll-call support weekdays |
Bottom Line
One of the many niceties on this full-featured model is its grayscale screen that displays JPEG images on Type I and II CompactFlash cards.
Archos Gmini 220
Gmini 220 Review, by Alexandra Krasne February 24, 2004
Archos's black, 20GB Gmini 220 does everything a typical hard-drive audio player can do and more. It's one of the few models we've seen to date that has a slot for Type I and Type II CompactFlash cards, plus a 2.5-inch, blue-backlit, gray-scale screen that lets you view JPEG images. Though the screen makes music titles easy to read, it isn't the best canvas on which to view photos; still, it's good enough if you want to take a quick look at what's on your flash card. It's easy to save images onto the player from a CompactFlash card, so if your digital camera supports CompactFlash media, this might be a handy way to store images.
To transfer tunes to the Gmini, simply connect the cable from the unit's USB 2.0 port to your PC, and Windows 2000 or XP will immediately recognize it as a USB mass storage device and assign it a drive letter. From there, drag and drop tracks to the player. In our tests, the player transferred files quickly--92.9MB worth of tunes from the local hard drive to the player in a mere 10 seconds. Though you don't need software to transfer music, the player comes with MusicMatch Plus software for cataloging your music. The player's interface lets you perform such operations as creating and saving playlists, editing tracks, deleting or renaming tracks on the player, and creating folders.
One gripe we have with the Gmini is its power button: To get it to respond, we had to dig into it with a fingernail. In addition, some of the setup options are unintuitive. For instance, to get to the contrast settings, you need to drill down into the Power menu. It would have made more sense to include those settings on the System menu. Initially, we had to consult Archos's documentation to figure out the player's controls; but once past the initial hurdle, we found them relatively easy to navigate. Some of the buttons are rather small, which made simultaneously walking and adjusting the controls more of a challenge than we'd have liked.
The included Sennheiser earbuds were acceptable, but left us craving the clarity of a more expensive set of headphones. The player's volume goes loud but not stun-a-teenager loud.
Using the device's stereo analog line-in and line-out jacks, you can connect the Gmini directly to your stereo system and encode CDs from it. An optional FM remote control lets you listen to FM stereo and record FM broadcasts straight to MP3 format. The Gmini has a built-in microphone for voice recording, and Archos offers an optional external microphone for better sound. The unit's internal microphone sounded clear in our tests.
Upshot: This small player provides handy image viewing and decent sound, but it could use better controls.
Alexandra Krasne
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User Reviews
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: nowlin20atm
Strengths: Nice interface, easy to connect to PC, CompactFlash media slot is cool, good media information while playing.
Weaknesses: Bulky and not easily carried around, MP3 data tags are a pain to get correct, battery life seems short (never indicates a full charge), poor earbuds, buttons don't always work properly.
Overall: All in all, the Gmini 120 is a decent product. It's no slouch with 20GB of storeage and the sound quality is good. The fact that it can be used as a portable hard-drive is great; you can store any type of data on it. The menus for selecting music and changing settings is neat and simple. Recording is fully supported with included AV adapters and software. The main issue that I have with the Gmini is that in order to have the correct information for each track you MUST use the MUSICMATCH Jukebox software. MMJ in itself is not a bad program, but the interaction between the software and the Gmini is cumbersome, slow, and counter-intuitive. Also, the earbuds that are included have a neat volume in-line control, but they are too uncomfortable to use for more than about 5 minutes. A way to carry the MP3 player would be nice, too. For the money, the Gmini 120 isn't bad, it just doesn't follow through on several well-intended ideas.
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Reviewed by: konktorymowi
Strengths: I like it
Weaknesses: Full specifications is not true
Overall: Full specifications suggest that player contains an FM Tuner, it is not true. To use a radio you have to buy it additional for another $50. It definitely changes his market position
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Reviewed by: adam_mabe
Strengths: Very versitile. Archos is a great brand. I use it to dump photos from my digital camera (via a SD to CF adapter) and it is great for recording concerts with an external mic.
Weaknesses: Sort of large and bulky.
Overall: This seems to be a great product that is only hindered by it being slightly bulky. In comparision to previous models is smaller, but the functionality is well worth dealing with the bulkiness.
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Reviewed by: Lantzer3
Strengths: oh my god! beautiful screen, extremely fast loading, good charging speed, 20 gigs! good extras, the list goes on!
Weaknesses: slightly heavier than what i expected, but its not like its any kind of hassle.
Overall: okay, what is wrong with this thing has not revealed itself to this point in time. beautifully made, there is NO software needed to install on your comp. i dont even use musicmatch or anything, just transfer from computer into the E:/ drive and its done. i had 2 GIGS of music i wanted on my mp3 player(thats A LOT of music), and it downloaded it in less than 10 minutes.this thing has 20 gigs, which is WAY more than enough. thatll hold OVER 10 DAYS of music! i love this thing! very durable as well. i work at Pizza Hut and it got knocked around a few times my first night. pulled it out when i got home and not a scratch! the keys are really easy to use. options are endless and you will never find anything this great for this little!conclusion - you will never find 20 gigs for less than $200. its flawless, options are endless, and if you cant handle 8 oz. of weight in your pocket then you've got some problems. definetaly a must for music lovers!
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Reviewed by: rogergrace
Strengths: Price; Works as an external hard drive (can store any file types); Compact flash card port to transfer files from a digital camera.
Weaknesses: Battery life (won't play ten hours on high volume); Musicmatch software to transfer music library is slow and doesn't create artist/album folders; Navigation is slow.
Overall: Don't use Musicmatch to transfer your files, just drag and drop from Windows. If you create a new library in Musicmatch and add all the files from your Archos, you can quickly create playlists and then copy them to your Archos Playlist folder. (It's really slow creating playlists on the unit itself.) Also, don't bother scrolling to the "(Parent folder)" file - just use the left button.
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